It's A Long Way To The Top (If You Want to Rock and Roll)
by VideoGameAddict237
Summary: The story of several young teenage musicians as they start a rock band that becomes a wide success. The story follows them as they go through trials and tribulations as the success grows and tries to tear them apart. Crossover with Bleach, Code Geass, Naruto, Fairy Tail, Highschool DxD, Gurren Lagann, and Evangelion. Rated T for language and certain situations
1. Chapter 1: Go Start a Band

**This is a new story that I've decided to write to keep a new creative force going. I'm still gonna work on Walking Dead and Underrated Classics but this is something new that spawned after watching different anime series and documentaries of rock bands, particularly Behind the Music. There will be music sung in this, but because it would take too long for me to write the lyrics to my own songs for all the chapters I'm planning, I'm going to use lyrics to famous songs you all know from multiple. I will give credit to each band and artist after every chapter so don't anybody worry.**

 **Chapter 1: Go Start A Band**

It was a nice morning in Karakura Town, Japan. The sun was shining bright with no clouds in the sky, kids were walking to school or waiting for the bus, cars were driving along the streets, and it was serene and quiet. It was especially quiet in a small neighborhood not far from the local schools.

The front door of a nice house opened, revealing a boy around the age of fifteen stepping outside. He was dressed in his school uniform and was carrying his school briefcase.

"I'm going to school Mom, I'll see you later," the boy called back into the house.

"Alright Issei honey, have a good day," his mother called.

"I will."

This boy was Issei Hyoudou. He was a skinny teenager with brown hair and brown eyes. He lived with his mom and dad in the small town, his mom a nurse and his dad an accountant. He walked down the streets of Karakura Town looking around at everything. He took in all the sights he saw and just kept thinking about it all.

"This town is too simple," he thought, "I wish there was more too it."

Issei attended Kuoh Academy, a local private high school that was an all girl school that recently became co-ed.

He wasn't very athletic, which he freely admitted. 'I suck at sports' he would say to everybody. He would go out and play baseball with his friends if asked and he did like to golf, run, and row, but Issei wasn't much of an athlete. The thing that he really was, was a musician.

That's right, Issei was a musician. He loved all different kinds of music, classical, rock, blues, folk, jazz, metal, and alternative. He was okay with some pop music such as eighties new wave/synthpop groups or dream pop music, but modern pop wasn't really his thing. He was no bigot to any kind of genre although he wasn't particularly fond of modern day music. He didn't like all of the sexual overtones, swearing, or nonsensical lyrics. It was very unappealing.

When did he begin it all? He started playing music around the age of six with piano. He received lessons from his local church piano player. It was an enjoyable experience for him. His teacher was a very upbeat and jovial church organist who made the lessons extremely fun. His instructor was especially talented in classical and jazz music but he didn't make Issei play that kind of music. He instead taught Issei how to use both hands to play and just let him do his own thing. So Issei wasn't a classical pianist, nor could he read music that well but he was good at piano, in his own way. His instructor thought it was good for the student to establish his own path, and Issei found his own path at the piano.

Issei was also a accomplished singer. As a child he sang in the school choir and played parts in school plays. Doing these things helped him to develop his singing voice and Issei really enjoyed it.

When Issei was around eleven, he wanted to learn something new and bought a beginner acoustic guitar. He took lessons at the local music store and became more engrossed in rock music. His mom and dad later bought him a Les Paul knockoff, which he was still playing right now, and he began to get more involved.

His teacher, Riser Phoenix was a talented guitarist, but a very big snob. Issei would often describe his guitar lessons as being the most uncomfortable and degrading experience ever. Riser would sometimes call Issei half assed at the guitar and would put down some of the music Issei liked, especially the rock music he so greatly enjoyed.

It was very irritating to hear, but he really did want to learn and put up with it for almost four years, but eventually it hit a breaking point and fairly recently Issei finally quit lessons. He had no regrets about quitting, music was supposed to be a fun journey, not a boring and vindictive process.

Primarily, Issei was self taught. During the time he was taking lessons, he secretly used the Internet and books to learn scales and arpeggios and some cool techniques.

People spoke highly of Issei's guitar playing but he didn't view himself as a virtuoso that much. He didn't think he was the greatest or fastest guitarist at all. He was reasonably fast, but he preferred to be more melodic and stick with more appropriate melody and tone. He also believed there was someone else he thought deserved the honor of fastest guitarist.

"Hey Issei," a voice called out. Issei looked behind and saw someone running towards him.

"Hey Ichigo, how are you," he said to him.

"I'm doing alright, what about you?" Ichigo asked as they walked together

"I'm cool," Issei said smiling and nodding.

Ichigo Kurosaki was another native of Karakura Town and Issei's best friend. They grew up in the same neighborhood for years, their moms being friends in high school. They played together all the time as kids, always joking around and having fun and even now they still did.

Ichigo's dad, Isshin, was a professional doctor and therapist who was well known around the city. His mother Masaki was the standard stay-at-home mom and the sweetest person in the world, but if you pissed her off she would woop your ass in a second. He also had two little fraternal twin sisters Karin and Yuzu. Karin was the more quiet and reserved sister while Yuzu was the more cheerful and bubbly one.

Ichigo attended Karakura High School, the sibling school to Kuoh Academy. He was more of an athlete than Issei was, having done karate as a kid. Ichigo was also the person that Issei thought deserved the honor as the fastest guitarist.

Ichigo's whole entire family was musical. While Isshin worked as a doctor most of the time, but on his weekends off he would teach guitar lessons at the house. Masaki was a classically trained pianist who was previously part of a symphony orchestra in the past. Even his little sisters Yuzu and Karin sang in choir.

Unlike Issei who started with piano, Ichigo began and stayed right with the guitar, starting around the age of five. Isshin gave him lessons and helped him learn all the necessities. Masaki gave Ichigo music theory teachings as well to help with his sight reading skills. Ichigo could do everything with chords, scales, arpeggios and techniques such as tapping, tremolo picking, and sweep picking. Issei could do these techniques too, but he felt Ichigo was way better at them than he was, upon which he admired him for.

Ichigo was also a singer as well. He sang in the choir with Issei when they were kids, but he was far more higher ranged than Issei was, especially if it came to high range power metal like screaming.

Issei and Ichigo always would play music together. Before Issei started guitar, they would do a guitar and piano duet at each other's houses, always putting on a show for their parents. When Issei began learning guitar, they began doing rock duets with each other. Ichigo also helped Issei as he was learning, giving him tips and teaching him cool tricks. The two of them were a music powerhouse.

Now as they were walking to their schools they just stood there talking about their music again. It was the big mutual interest that defined their friendship.

"Did you hear the new Foo Fighters album," Issei asked, "I thought it was pretty good."

"Pretty good," Ichigo chortled, "are you kidding, that album kicked major ass dude."

"Ok sorry, I just thought it was a radical departure from their previous album," Issei said back to him, "it seemed a little more ambient, know what I'm saying?"

"Yeah but ambient music is cool," Ichigo said turning to him, "Sigur Ros and Coldplay nail it very well, and besides you gotta experiment with different music anyway. Hell, Queen did it multiple times and they still kicked major ass in rock and roll."

"Yeah, long live the great Freddie Mercury," Issei proudly shouted holding his arm up to the air.

"Oh yeah, that man was a genius," Ichigo said putting his hand on Issei's shoulder.

"Hey Ichigo, if you got nothing going on, you want to have a jam session at my house after school?" Issei asked.

"Sure I'm up for it anytime," Ichigo said exuberantly.

"Alright awesome," Issei said in response. They started to get a little closer to their schools and shook hands.

"See you later dude," Ichigo said nodding and smiling.

"You too buddy," Issei responded.

* * *

Issei walked into school. He said good morning to all his friends as he walked through the hallways.

"Issei," a feminine voice cried out.

Issei looked and saw his classmate and friend Rias Gremory running towards him. She was one of the most beautiful girls at Kuoh Academy. She had long beautiful crimson red hair and green eyes. Her beauty caught everybody's attention. Issei did feel attracted to her but he felt awkward in trying to ask her out considering she was a good friend, almost like a sibling. She even felt like a big sister to him in a way.

"Rias, what's up," he asked her.

"I'm working on casting for 'How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying', and I don't know whether to cast this student or this one for the part of Bud Frump, so I'd like a personal opinion."

Rias was the manger of the school plays at Kuoh Academy. She did almost everything from arranging music, casting, getting costume designers, to working on the sound and lighting for the show. She was a real hard worker at all of this. Issei always wondered what she did for fun in her spare time, if she ever had spare time for that matter.

"Hmm, I think this one because he has a more lazy and arrogant look to him. But then again see how he tries out and if it will work," Issei said to her with a smile

"Thank you," she said to him with a smile, "I need someone to be a mic-switcher do you think you can pull it off?"

"Of course I will."

Issei did do acting in plays before but since starting high school he decided to be the background guy for the time being. He had a feeling he'd act again but he wanted to try working on the stage crew for a while.

"When will you need me?" Issei asked, but he then realized something. "Oh crap, I forgot about the jam session with Ichigo, please tell me it's on a different day," he thought to himself.

"We'll begin the run this week, but dress rehearsal will come in the next week," Rias asked keeping her bright smile.

"That sounds good I'll do it," Issei said. He felt relieved that it was next week.

"Excellent," Rias said happily, "well have a good day then." She then walked off to her next class.

"Man she's awesome. I don't know what I'd do without her." Issei then walked off to his first period class.

* * *

Ichigo walked into Karukra High School. As he walked down the halls, several friends of his walked up to him. They were Keigo Asano and Mizuiro Kojima. He met them in middle school and they've been a pair of great buddies ever since. Although Keigo got on their nerves sometimes with his goofy nature and Mizuiro always would have a new older and hot girlfriend each week. That pissed off a lot of guys in the school.

"How's the guitar playing been going man," Keigo asked.

"Eh it's alright, I'm still keeping at it and playing fine," Ichigo told him.

"Fine, are you kidding," Mizurio exasperated in disbelief, "Ichigo you're the greatest guitarist in this entire school, nobody can beat you."

"Eh, I wouldn't say that," Ichigo shrugged his shoulders, "I mean I believe the greatest guy to ever touch a guitar is Jimi Hendrix. He was the master of the axe."

"Yeah whatever you say dude," Keigo said looking at his watch, "oh God, I gotta meet with the teacher early, she'll kick my ass if I'm late." He then took off running like a speeding bullet down the hallway.

"I'll go take care of him. Have a good day bud," Mizuiro said to Ichigo as they shared a high five and he walked off.

"Hehe, those are nice guys," Ichigo said to himself.

"Hello Ichigo," a soft quiet voice said. Ichigo turned and saw his good friend Orihime Inoue walking up to him. She was carrying her books and wearing a smile on her face.

"Orihime, good morning," he replied with friendly air.

She was a very pretty girl, most likely the prettiest in the entire school. Her beautiful long, orange hair with two blue hairpins went down her shoulders. She had a cherubic and childlike face that made her look cute.

Ichigo didn't want to admit it but he thought Orihime was cute. Despite that he never thought of asking her out. She was one of his oldest friends and he didn't really see her as someone he'd like to date.

"How's your music been going," she asked.

"Good, very good, Issei and I are still jamming along pretty good."

"I have to meet this friend of yours. You talk about him all the time and I've never met him at all."

"Yeah you really should, he's a really cool dude," Ichigo said.

Orihime was one of the sweetest people ever. She always had a smile on her face and an all around upbeat feel to her. She and Ichigo had been friends for many years since second grade. He loved all her jokes and her happy go lucky attitude. Some people would call her a ditz or an airhead because of how bubbly she would act, but that was totally untrue. While Orihime may seem that way she was highly intelligent. She scored high in every subject and got straight A's on every single test. But besides that she was also musical like Ichigo, the difference being, she was a prodigy.

Her talent sparked at the age of three when she went to preschool. They had a piano in the music room, and she was always intrigued by the instrument and the beautiful sounds it created.

One day in curiosity she climbed into the seat and started playing. Despite having had no experience before, the sound she created was amazing and every kid in the classroom would start dancing. The school teacher called her brother Sora later that day. The conversation went a little something like this.

...

 _"Hello Mr. Inoue, I must say I'm very impressed with your little sister."_

 _"Oh really, how is she doing," Sora asked_

 _"Outstanding, she was playing the piano today in music class and she did it really well. A lot of the students started getting up and dancing."_

 _"Umm, excuse me miss but we don't own a piano."_

 _"Are you certain sir," she asked confused._

 _"Yes ma'am, there hasn't been any kind of piano or instrument in our apartment."_

 _"That is very odd," she said, "I will tell you though, she's very good at it. I suggest you sign her up for lessons, she may have some kind of hidden talent there."_

 _"I'll consider it, thank you for calling ma'am," Sora said as he hung up the phone, "this is very peculiar, I didn't know Orihime had that kind of feeling, well I guess I'll have to see."_

...

That was the main proof of Orihime's skills that came without any prior training or knowledge. Immediately after that phone call, Sora signed her up for lessons at his friend's house. From that very fist lesson onward Orihime learned everything very quickly. Everything from music theory to classical pieces, her favorites being from Tchaikovsky and Mozart, to songs from modern day artists. Sometimes she would out do her teachers and have to move on to another one.

Orihime's skills became so great that she was given a part time job as an organist at the church she and Sora attended, and especially at such a young age.

Ichigo had seen her play multiple times at shows and at her house, and he thought she was amazing. She could play any song on the piano after listening to it a couple of times.

Even now, twelve years later at the age of fifteen she was still performing in school recitals, playing organ at church, and independently writing her own pieces. It was so funny that she was able to have enough free time on her hands.

A lot of prestigious music academies in Tokyo and out of the country were interested in enrolling her, even the Juilliard School in the United States, but she turned all of them down. Her brother didn't really understand why she didn't want to go but she told him that she didn't want to go to those prep schools with all those snobby rich kids. She hated people like that. And besides, she had her own plans for her where her music was going to her take her, but it was a secret she kept to herself.

"Actually I meant to ask you," she said, "do you maybe want to go to the arcade after school today?"

"Oh Orihime I'd like to, but I promised Issei I'd meet him for a jam session. I could call him and ask if we could cancel it," Ichigo groaned, he felt guilty telling his friend that he couldn't hang out with her.

"Oh no, that's totally fine," Orihime said in a very friendly tone, "we can do it some other time if you'd like."

"Oh okay, I'm fine with that," Ichigo said, relieved that she wasn't angry or upset.

"You better hurry, class starts soon," Orihime said as she turned to go to her class.

"Oh crap you're right, I'll see you later Orihime," Ichigo waved goodbye to her as he ran to his class.

"You too, have a good day," Orihime called back to him as she walked on to her class.

* * *

After he got all of his homework done and got in some exercise for the day. Issei went to the music room of the house. This was initially a den when they moved in, but as his dad made more additions to the house, this room became the main room for Issei to practice and record.

In that room was a grand piano that his family owned for years as well as an amplifier for his guitar with built in distortion and chorus, phaser, and flanger effects. His laptop sat there with recording software installed on it, all connected through by a Focusrite Scarlett.

Issei went over and opened the case that held his guitar. He took a look at it. His guitar was a Les Paul copy made by a company called Hondo with a cherry sunburst finish, and a Bigsby tremolo that was surprisingly good for divebombs. He got it around age 14 and he loved playing it. He had practiced for countless hours on that rosewood fretboard until his fingers got too tired. Recently, he noticed that the electronics were starting to get a little screwy and it was making it difficult to play right.

"I might have to put this away soon and get a new one. Until then I'll have to use this. But then again I really do love this guitar a lot," he thought to himself as he sat with the guitar in his lap.

"Issei," his mother called, "Ichigo and Mrs. Kurosaki are here."

"Okay, I'm just setting up the music room," he called back.

"Hey bro," Ichigo said as he walked into the music room. He was carrying his case and an amplifier. He sat down on the floor and opened the case. Inside was a Squier Stratocaster in Olympic white with a Floyd Rose tremolo. If there's one constant thing Ichigo did with the guitar it was the dive bomb and whammy effects. Issei did it occasionally but he preferred to use the wah pedal, that is if he had one. He was hoping to get up to store and get one soon.

"You still got that Strat don't you," Issei said to him.

"Hell yeah, I love this thing," he said as he strummed a note and pulled the bar down, "you still got that awesome axe there."

"Yeah but the wiring got kind of crappy lately. Whenever I do volume swells the sound is scratchy and sometimes the full distortion doesn't go through the pickups," Issei said somberly as he looked at it.

"That sucks, maybe you should get it fixed," Ichigo suggested.

"But doesn't it cost more to repair than to just get a new guitar," Issei said in response.

Ichigo looked left and right for a second before speaking, "yyyeeeaahhh you should probably update, but still hold on to that one as an old friend."

"Yeah I will, how about I do a little piano first," Issei said as he sat down and positioned his fingers on the keys, "and you can do some sort of rock demo right behind me."

"Okay that sounds cool, what do you have in mind," Ichigo asked as he plugged in his guitar and rolled the volume up.

"Just something mild," Issei said, "let's do a sort of melodic thing with you doing some calm guitar stuff."

"Okay sounds good, start us off Issei," Ichigo motioned to him. Issei nodded and began to hit the keys.

* * *

Masaki and Mrs. Hyoudou were in the kitchen sipping coffee and speaking. They heard their sons playing music in the other room. It was calm and relaxing right now, but they knew they're sons would go very hard rock in the next couple of minutes.

"So how's everything been going with the family Masaki," Mrs. Hyoudou asked.

"Everything's fine," she said happily, "Isshin's been working very hard at the job. It's really a surprise he doesn't suffer burnout. He works 24/7 at the hospital, clinic, and those guitar lessons on the weekend.

"Must be trying to make sure he's the only breadwinner who provides for his family," Mrs, Hyoudou said.

"Yeah I would think so," Masaki said. Suddenly she heard the sound of feedback from an amplifier. She knew right away what it was. "Oh boy, here we go again."

What followed was the sound of heavily distorted guitars being played from the music room. Their parents didn't mind all that much but sometimes if they were tired, the sound could get very irritating.

"They really seem to be having a fun time," Mrs. Hyoudou said.

"Yeah, you know I've been thinking about them for a while and something came to mind," Masaki said as she took a sip of coffee.

"Alright Masaki, spill" she said looking her in the eyes.

"I think the boys should find some others and start a band," Masaki said in a to the point manner.

"Really?"

"Yeah they're proficient enough, but I think they should find others who can play and just make themselves a rock band."

"I do like the idea," Mrs. Hyoudou said, "why don't you tell them on your way out."

"I certainly will, anyway let's change the subject," she said as she took another sip.

* * *

The two kept rocking out in that one room. Right now Issei was providing rhythm guitar as Ichigo began to shred furiously on his guitar. He did a tapping portion and began doing crazy whammy bar tricks.

Once that was done, Issei did his own guitar solo. It lasted for a while as he tremolo picked the notes and did rapid legato tricks. Eventually they hit the breakdown and they finished off.

"WOO, that was a killer," Ichigo exasperated as he rolled the volume down on his guitar.

"Yeah best guitar solo ever, you rocked dude," Issei said complimented him.

"Yeah but so did you," Ichigo said patting him on the back.

"You know you tell me a lot about this Orihime chick at your school, is she really that good?"

"Definitely, I've seen her at the piano she's awesome. She wants to meet you one of these days Issei, I think you'd get along with her really good."

"I think so too, set up a meeting with her and I, okay?"

"I will, don't worry."

"Ichigo honey, it's time to go," Masaki called to her son.

"Okay mom, come on Issei help me carry some stuff out," he said as he packed up his case.

"Ok I got it," Issei said as he took the amplifier. They walked to the door and Issei handed Masaki the amplifier.

"You guys did really well tonight, great job."

"Thank you Mrs. Kurosaki, we try to play as best he can," Issei said with a grin.

"I think it's about time you put those skills to good use. You should both try and start a band."

"Really," Issei and Ichigo both said in unison

"That's right, you both play well and I think you should go find other people who play and start yourselves a group. You should go out, have fun, rock on, get in trouble. Well not really get in trouble, but you know what I mean," Masaki said to them.

"That sounds interesting, I'll think about it Mrs. Kurosaki. Thanks for coming over Ichigo," Issei said to his best friend.

"No problem, I'll see you tomorrow Issei," Ichigo said to him as he waved goodbye. Issei waved as well and closed the door to his house. Masaki and Ichigo both walked back to their house, but Ichigo kept wondering about what his mom said.

"Mom, did you really mean that?"

"Of course honey, you and Issei are both accomplished musicians and I think you need to get out and be better. Try and find some guys at school who can play too, get together, and have a good time."

"Okay mom I'll try," Ichigo said as they continued walking.

* * *

Issei lied awake in his bed that night. He kept wondering about what Masaki had said to him. Could he and Ichigo really start a band together?

"It does sound like fun, but would it really work?"

Issei did want to play with other people, but it was kind of hard. Issei's tastes in music were very different in contrast to his other friends in his school who enjoyed the more modern stuff.

That's why he and Ichigo really liked playing together, because they shared those same musical interests. He also thought of maybe sending in a demo. Certain people would send in demos and would either get rejected or accepted. It was a hard decision to do but it sounded like a fun challenge.

"Maybe I'll look around school tomorrow and see if some kids want to join, until then I'm gonna go to sleep," Issei said to himself as he turned over and closed his eyes. In a couple minutes he was out like a light.

 **Yeah this is going to be a long journey. So the next chapter will be much more. I mostly wanted to spend this chapter establishing certain characters. I should say though, there will be surprises as the chapters go on, so be prepared.**


	2. Chapter 2: The Bassist and the Drummer

**Well this is gonna be a major chapter that has some new guys coming in to join Issei and Ichigo in their music. Just for some background stuff I have two YouTube video links here which you can listen to while you read so that you can have some kind of interaction of sorts with story. Anyway here's chapter 2**

 **watch?v=FnPUohY13Tw** and **watch?v=d4iDRtbESCY** (Bass guitar)

 **watch?v=4jh4vr6ZxXE** (Drums)

 **Chapter 2: The Bassist and the Drummer**

As the sun rose over Karakura Town that Wednesday morning, people started waking up and getting ready for school or work. Issei got out of bed and opened the blinds to his window. He always liked having the sun shine through his window, it helped him get up better.

"I may say this town is too small, but I can't deny it is a good town for me," he said to himself with a grin. He did like living in this town, ever since he was born. But he had these aspirations to get out here and do something with his life. He just couldn't find the answer now.

Issei walked to school earlier than usual. He would mostly get there right on time, but he had to see some teachers early this morning. He wouldn't see Ichigo until the afternoon more likely, but he didn't care they'd talk on Skype or text messages so it was all good.

He met with all his teachers and then went to his first period class. For freshman year of high school, it was sort of an easy yet at the same time hard transition. Issei didn't have any problems in classes, he just did his homework and tests and pulled through fine. He liked his classes and his teachers and he made some good friends, particularly those who came with him from middle school. But middle school wasn't entirely a great experience for Issei.

For a long time up until that point, Issei struggled with heavy anxiety issues. This started back in mid-second grade when he became stressed about recitals getting in the way of school work. Eventually it became about others things in his life and his got worse and worse. It got so bad that Issei became overweight during the first two years of middle school and nearly stopped playing music. The only time the stress would ever go away, was when he played. Not a lot of his friends caught on to this except Ichigo.

Yeah, being that they were friends for a long time Ichigo could always sense when something was wrong with Issei and he always was the one to try and make everything right with him. Ichigo suggested to Issei that he come clean to his parents about his stress and try to set it right. Issei went to his parents and told them how he was feeling, which they surprisingly knew but didn't' bring up because they wanted him to acknowledge it to them.

Following that Issei started taking counseling to help with his stress, and he also started a workout regime, losing all the weight he had gained. With all of that Issei became much more confident and outgoing. He was in high school now, and he was going to make it the best years of his life, and so far it's been starting off very well.

Then again, he was always on the tests whenever they were handed out and he would sometimes get stressed as he studied. He just figured this was part of what being a high school student meant. Still the stress wasn't as bad as it was before, so there was that.

He did take a music class there but it all seemed like a breeze to him. It was mostly for beginners and intermediates but he joined it to see what it was like. It was all straightforward stuff he already learned from music theory to performing.

"How about I think of this whole band thing. Maybe I could find some people around here that play instruments. We'd need the basic necessities including a bassist and a drummer."

* * *

Ichigo got into school regular time that morning. He hadn't seen Issei while walking to school, but then again he did say he needed to get in early so that was understandable.

"Hey Ichigo," he heard Keigo say. Sure enough he looked and saw Keigo and Mizuiro.

"Hey guys," he said with friendly air. And

"So how'd your jam session go," Mizuiro asked.

"Really good, but when we finished my mom said Issei and I should start a band."

"That sounds awesome dude," Keigo exclaimed happily.

"Yeah it does Issei and I could both play guitar and he could do piano, but we don't know anybody who plays instruments like bass or drums."

"Well that sucks," Keigo said sounding glum.

"Don't you guys..." he was about to say before he was cut off.

"Nope," they said in unison.

"I would've taken up guitar or something but I don't have the patience to go through lessons," Mizuiro said.

"I could be your manager," Keigo said cheerfully.

Ichigo then had a bad imaginatory thought in his head. Keigo as his manager would mean destruction for a lot of people. He thought Keigo was a cool and reliable guy but at the same time he could mess things up really hard. He decided to politely turn down the offer.

"That's...okay," Ichigo replied nervously. This didn't seem to sit too well with Keigo though.

"Oh what is it, I'm not good enough," Keigo then started sobbing as tears ran down from his eyes like a waterfall. "Ichigo I can't believe you I thought we were friends, but you really hate me. I'm never talking to you again you jerk," Keigo ranted on as he ran down the hallway sobbing like a little kid.

"Geez what's his problem," Ichigo said nonchalantly.

"Don't worry he'll be back," Mizurio said, "but yeah try and start the band, maybe something cool will happen, I'll see you later, I'm gonna head to class."

"See ya," Ichigo said as he waved goodbye. As he walked in the classroom and sat at his desk, he thought again about the band thing. The school did have a pit orchestra. He didn't join them because he didn't have so much time to commit to musicals these days. Other than choir he and Issei did a lot of shows together too, especially when they were kids. In high school though, it was a large commitment to be in the school theater because than you'd end up staying at school until 9 or 10. Still he did like the shows and the people involved in with it.

"Maybe I could check them out later today," Ichigo thought to himself.

* * *

Issei went to the auditorium during his free period. He had an hour to kill and he wanted to make sure equipment was working alright for the mic switching and that his iPad was hooked up so that he could control the soundboard.

Issei was a sucker for Broadway musicals. Being that he was a performer in community theater and school plays for almost all of his life, it was natural that he'd be very well associated with them. He gave a lot of credit to musicals for helping him to sing and gain onstage charisma. Surprisingly, he never did play a lead in a play at all, which was strange. He had enough talent and was certainly capable of doing it, but it was still very weird that he never got picked to be a lead at all. He didn't mind all that much, he actually enjoyed being a side character because it was too much work to be a lead.

"Alright all hooked up," he said before looking at his watch, "I still have some time, maybe I can..."

As he was finishing up his sentence he heard a sound. It sounded like a rumble of sorts, and it want that far away. He walked out of the auditorium and followed the sound. He walked as the sound got louder and louder until eventually he reached the source, the music room.

He took a look through the glass on the door. Inside the room was a boy around his age with blue hair sitting on a stool. He sat on the stool with a bass guitar on his lap. He was playing a fast jazz riff on the bass. Issei examined his fingers and saw them move very fast across the fretboard and on the strings. This kid was really good, like a younger John Entwistle.

"Maybe he could be our bass guy," Issei thought to himself. He waited for the kid to finish the solo, which the kid did with in probably the most majestic way possible. Without second thought, Issei opened the door. The kid looked up surprised.

"Oh, hello," the kid said in a friendly way.

"Hey, that was awesome," Issei said to him.

"Thanks, I was just doing some warm ups. I hear they have a jazz band here at school so I decided to sign up. I like jazz music and I heard they're having an audition this week."

"That's cool," Issei said, "my name's Issei Hyoudou, I play guitar and piano."

"Nice to meet you Issei, my name is Simon and I just transferred here from Tokyo," Simon said to him with a smile.

"So you really like jazz huh," Issei asked curiously.

"Oh yeah definitely, but I'm also into a lot of the classic rock stuff too," Simon said with a grin, "I'm a loyal follower to that music."

"Awesome, this dude can totally be in the band," Issei thought to himself.

"That is so cool, I play that too. Me and my best friend Ichigo do it all the time."

"That sounds neat, you guys do it often," Simon asked.

"Any chance we get," Issei said, "actually we're thinking of starting a band but we can't find any members."

"Well do you want me to audition, I can join," Simon suggested. This surprised Issei initially. He didn't think Simon would say 'yes' that quickly. But then again, it sounded cool that he was taking up the offer before he even asked him.

"That sounds great," Issei said quickly but calmed down, "we can have an audition at my house a little later, here's my address," he said taking out a slip of paper and writing down the address. He handed it to him.

"Oh that's not far from where I live, I'm only ten minutes away," Simon said as he smiled.

"Thanks, I got to go to my next class, it was nice meeting you Simon," Issei said as he got ready to leave the room.

"Yeah you too Issei, I'll drop by a little later," Simon said as he shook Issei's hand. After that, Issei left the room and got ready to go to class. Before he did, he decided to call up Ichigo and tell him.

* * *

Ichigo went to his locker to put his books away for a while. He was on lunch period now and was heading to the cafeteria. As he was about to start walking, he felt his phone vibrating on his pocket. He pulled it out and saw Issei's name on the caller ID.

"Issei," Ichigo said puzzled, "wonder what he's calling about?"

Despite how confused it seemed, Ichigo answered the phone. "Hey Issei what's up?"

"Hey Ichigo," Issei said on the phone, "listen, I went to practice for the school play and when I got done I heard something from the music room. I went there and saw this kid playing bass guitar, you should've seen him, he was amazing."

"Really, well what happened," Ichigo asked starting to get curious.

"Well I talked to him, his name is Simon and when I told him about the whole band thing, he offered to audition."

"Seriously," Ichigo exclaimed in excitement, "that's awesome, what else did he say?"

"He said he'd come over to my house a little later today to audition. I called you because I need you there. I swear Ichigo this guy is really good, we could use him," Issei said as he got excited on the other line.

"Okay, I'll meet up with you at your house after I finish my homework and we'll see what this guy's got," Ichigo said to him.

"Cool, I'll see you then buddy," Issei said.

"You too."

Ichigo hung up the phone and put it back in his pocket. He was ecstatic now, they finally had a bass player. But he had to see, was this guy really as good as Issei says he is?

* * *

Issei was in his house waiting for Ichigo or Simon to come over. He was very overjoyed that they did find one guy, but they still needed a drummer. He was also thinking of someone who could play keyboards or synthesizers.

While Issei had exceptional skills on piano, he knew nothing about keyboards. All of that stuff was just a blur to him and it made no sense. Then again he felt not to dwell on it because right now they needed the basic necessities, and maybe they might not need a keyboard player that much.

He then heard the doorbell ring. He ran over and upon opening the door saw that Ichigo was there.

"Hey Ichigo come on in," Issei said to his friend as he motioned him to come in.

They went into the music room and sat on two separate couches on there. They were still waiting for Simon to show up.

"So this guy is good right," Ichigo said.

"Of course, I saw him play Ichigo he really was good. He was going to sign up for the jazz band but he told he he likes rock and metal. That's the kind of guy we need here," Issei went on about how great he was.

"Well I'll take your word for it then," Ichigo said calmly with a grin, "If he's good with those genres, then maybe we can have some versatility when we play. We can explore both genres, because I personally think we should be more wide range."

"As long as we don't give ourselves out to all the modern stuff that has no real appeal," Issei said quickly.

"Oh hell no, there's no way I'd do any of that stuff bleaughh," Ichigo stuck his tongue out and spoke in disgust.

Just then the doorbell rang again. They both ran up and opened it. At the door was Simon carrying a case and a small amplifier, as well as a bag, probably holding some effects in it.

"Hey Issei," he said happily.

"Hey Simon, thanks for coming, this is my best friend Ichigo Kurosaki, he plays guitar."

"Nice to meet you," Simon said as he extended his hand out for a handshake.

"Likewise," Ichigo said as he shook his hand.

"Anyway, come on in," Issei said inviting him in. They walked into the music room and Simon stood shocked at all the equipment, as well as the grand piano.

"Wow, I've never seen anything like this before," Simon said surprised as he looked around.

"So, Issei tells me your a really cool bass player," Ichigo said with a grin.

"I guess so maybe, I've played for a long time so it doesn't really come as a surprise if people call me that," Simon said shrugging his shoulders.

"Would you mind playing a little bit and showing us what you got," Ichigo asked.

"Sure," Simon nodded as he opened the case. Inside was a Squier Precision Bass in blue with a maple fretboard. He plugged the amplifier in and opened up the small bag. Inside were three pedals, an overdrive, wah pedal, and a looper. He hooked those up and turn on the amplifier.

"Here's some cool overdrive metal thing I've been working on for a while. It's sort of Cliff Burton like in style," Simon said. He then turn the volume up and started playing.

From the first couple of notes he played, Ichigo was astonished. The bass had this metal edge but it sounded very good, despite how distorted it was. He watched as Simon plucked the notes with his fingers and fretted the notes. It was fast but had a melodic center to it.

This went on for several minutes until Simon finally hit the final open note and created a vibrato sound by bending behind the nut on the bass. After several seconds of silence, Issei and Ichigo applauded. Simon gave a bow to them.

"Thank you, thank you very much," he said like Elvis, "this next one is something I'm currently working on. It's an instrumental that I use with a pick."

He took the pick out of his pocket and set the overdrive down slightly. He started by performing harmonic bass notes, which he looped. While the loop played over and over Simon began playing the bass fast, this time using the notes and the wah pedal. This instrumental sounded not just like a bass but more like a trip through the unknown. It was amazing.

After around two minutes of this, Simon finally finished. Ichigo and Issei applauded him yet again. And again he took a bow. Issei then had the main thought on his mind. This guy was definitely going to be their bassist.

"Simon that was great," Ichigo said. He was literally cursing himself now for doubting this kid earlier. "God, I was so stupid. Yeah you know I am stupid, I might be the stupidest of the stupidest." Literally.

"How do you do it man, you must've been playing for a long time?" Issei asked.

"Well I started music very young, I was playing acoustic guitar around the time I was six. I used to do all these shows and I really wanted to play electric guitar. My mom was going to get me one when I was around ten but a mix up in shipping got me this bass guitar instead. I wasn't upset though, in fact I was getting so much into bass players at the time so I spent most of the time playing this. And well here I am," Simon explained his entire story to the two,

"That's really something," Issei said astonished, "but do you play guitar too?"

"Yeah I tend to play acoustically, I also write lyrics and sing too."

"Cool, sing something," Ichigo said.

"Can't right now," Simon said, "I have a cold at the moment, but I promise I can sing no doubt about it."

"Okay I've made my decision, you're in," Issei said.

"I agree you're definitely in," Ichigo said right behind him.

"Really, thanks," Simon yelled out in excitement.

This was going well. They now had two guitarists and a bassist. They all could sing, and were both capable of writing lyrics which was essential. But they were still missing one thing.

"But we still need a drummer," Ichigo said realizing they were still short.

"Aww man," Issei groaned disappointed.

"Hey don't be discouraged, I know someone that can help us," Simon suddenly said. This seems to lighten the spirits of Ichigo and Issei as they both looked at him with dumb, open mouth smiles, staring at him creepily.

"Who," they both said in unison.

"First get out of my face, you're creeping me out," he said to them as they were leaning in towards him. Realizing how creepy they were, they moved back suddenly.

"Sorry," they both said,

"Anyway there's this friend of mine in my neighborhood. He plays drums, his name is Natsu Dragneel. He and I made friends when I moved in. Believe me his drumming is amazing."

"Where can we meet him," Issei asked.

"You'll have to come with me to my neighborhood," Simon told them, "it's not far."

"Alright let's get going," Issei said, "lead the way."

"Alright then," Simon said as he got up. They walked out the door and started to walk with Simon to his neighborhood.

* * *

They got there in only eight minutes. This place was a small suburban neighborhood. It was nice to say the least. There were kids playing in their driveways, people sitting on their porches reading, it was all nice. They walked in the streets looking at all the houses.

"Nice place," Ichigo complimented.

"Yeah, my dad felt where we lived before was too strenuous so he decided we'd move out here."

"Where did you live before, I think you said in Tokyo," Issei asked.

"Yeah we lived in one of the large apartments in the city, it was nice but a little too much."

"Yeah that's understandable," Issei said, "So anyway where is this Natsu guy?"

After he asked that, the sound of drums began playing. Their heads shot to a house down the street. They could hear the sound coming from there. Right on cue.

"There he is, he's probably doing some practice in his garage, come on," Simon urged them as they walked over to the house and into the driveway. Looking into the garage, they found the source of the sound.

Inside the garage was a fifteen year old kid. He had pink hair and was fairly muscular for a kid his age, probably played a lot of sports. He was seated on a stool and was going at it with the drums. His playing was not just fast, it was actually impossibly complicated. It seemed as though he was going beyond the usual drumming skills and creating something cooler.

The three friends watched in astonishment as he kept playing the drums going. He hit the breakdown and as he finished starting banging on each of the drums and cymbals. Eventually he culminated it into a final bang on the drumset. Once that was done he took a wash cloth and wiped his face of sweat.

"Hey Natsu," Simon called out as they walked into the garage. Natsu took notice and smiled.

"Hey Simon, my man how you doing," he exclaimed as they fist pounded each other.

"I'm doing great, nice to see your still at the drums."

"You kidding, this drum set here is my life. I'll never part with it," he stated proudly as he then noticed Issei and Ichigo standing there. "Who are these guys?"

"This is Issei Hyoudou and Ichigo Kurosaki. I met them today."

"Hey there," Issei said waving.

"What's up," Ichigo said as he too was waving.

"Nice to meet you guys, but why are you all here anyway," Natsu asked.

"Well Issei and Simon both go to Kuoh Academy and he heard Simon playing bass today. He later came over to his house and we saw him play. We're trying to start a band but we need a drummer, and since we just saw you play we figured you'd be perfect," Ichigo explained to him.

Natsu then thought this was great. He was being asked to join a band? He had always wanted to join one but there haven't really been any real people to play with. So hearing this felt like a great opportunity.

"Sure, I'll do it, but I'm not that great of a singer so don't ask me to do that because I'll pretty much cause so many people to drop dead," Natsu said with a smile.

"Okay I guess that settles it," Issei said, "we'll all start a band together."

 **Yeah go out and start that band dudes. I brought in Simon from Gurren Lagann and Natsu from Fairy Tail and so far I'm really liking where this is going now, but it's not gonna go right from there. We still have some more to add here which will be followed up in the next chapter. Anyway all credit to the song The Fish belongs to Yes and the late Chris Squire, the video tribute belongs to zerothehero76. The metal bass solo video belongs to Davie504 and the amazing drum solo video belongs to navberkami. Everybody rock on.**


	3. Chapter 3: A Full Band

**Hey guys, welcome back to the story. I must say I really do like where this is going and I want to make this a long running thing, especially after I was inspired by Avenger264's Fight of the Hell Butterfly fanfic which I really liked. If you haven't checked it out then please do. Anyway this chapter the guys will add one more member and become a full progressive/alternative rock/metal group. Read on.**

 **Brotherhood of Man from How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying** ( /69WpCBLrdSQ)

 **Lelouch's Keyboard Solo** ( /VQ9p5B5PILg)

 **Chapter 3: A Full Band**

It had been about three weeks since Issei and Ichigo met Simon and Natsu. Every weekend and whenever they had free time they'd be playing at each other's houses. They'd turn their small music spaces into a rocking power house every weekend. They just had this great piece that worked well together.

Still though they, particularly Ichigo, felt that something was missing. They all felt it but they didn't bring it up at all. They felt they needed some keyboards in their lineup. Keyboards were a common instrument in rock music, even in the most hard rocking groups. Everybody in the group were fans of progressive and alternative rock, genres that they really wanted to perform, but they felt an absence of keyboards and synthesizers was keeping them from reaching that goal. That's why they were mostly covering only hard and punk rock groups for the time being.

It was Friday night and they were over at Simon's place having another jam session. This time they were covering an old tune from Scorpions. Eventually they got to the final notes. Issei let his amplifier produce feedback to give a buildup for a couple seconds and then they hit the final note.

"BEST JAM SESSION EVER!" Natsu yelled out.

"Yes indeed, let's take a break and get some water," Ichigo said as he put the guitar back in the case.

They all put stuff down and went into the kitchen. Simon went over to sink to get the glasses and the water for each of them.

"So I'd say we've been doing very good so far," Issei said as he sat at the kitchen table.

"Definitely," Natsu said, "we've been having the greatest rocking out session since the beginning. We really have gotten some places since we started."

"Yeah," Simon said as he brought them the water and sat down at the table with them, "Actually guys I was thinking. Considering all of us have recording equipment and mixing software, how about we make a demo?"

"Really," Issei asked as he took a sip of water, "I was thinking the same thing."

"Yeah we've got a lot of stuff to record and mix, we can send it in to the local record company," Ichigo said, "I wouldn't guarantee they'd respond but you know, never say die when you can try."

"Ehhh, guys I was thinking," Natsu said nervously, "we all want to do more artistic kind of rock music."

"Yeah we do like that stuff of course," Simon said.

"But the thing is, we'd need keyboards in order to fully reach that goal," Natsu said standing up. For a brief second they each looked at each other with uncertain looks on their faces, and they each nodded.

"You're right Natsu, I think if we use synthesizers, organ, keyboards or whatever, we can get a more Pink Floyd, Rush, or Dream Theater like sound. There are endless possibilities," Simon said as he took another sip.

"Yeah but can any of us here play keyboards at all," Natsu said. Each of the guys looked down at the floor in discouragement at the question.

"No I don't know crap about it. I never played piano or anything," Ichigo said sadly.

"Me neither," Simon said. But then they realized something and looked at Issei with happy faces.

"Issei you could do it, you've had piano experience," Ichigo said happily. Unfortunately Issei looked down at the floor sadly.

"No, I can't. Piano is one thing but all the technical stuff with synthesizers, Mellotrons, and the organ are way beyond my comprehension. It's too technical for me to learn and I'm not good with all the programming and whatever. I could play piano fine but for all that stuff there's no way."

"Damn it," Simon said, "well I guess we're pretty much screwed.

"Hey let's not look down already," Ichigo stood up and spoke confidently, "there are plenty keyboard players in the city, we just need to find one who can do it."

"You're right," Simon said, "we just got to look around school and see who's interested in joining."

"I got it, we'll each look around school and ask if anybody can do this and if they can, we'll bring them in," Issei said.

"I like that plan," Ichigo said nodding.

"Ditto," Natsu said.

"Yeah it's a good plan," Simon said.

* * *

Issei and Simon went into school the following Monday morning and began searchiung around for keyboard players. Issei thought his best option would be to ask Rias if anyone in the pit orchestra was interested.

When his free period came around he went to the auditorium. He saw Rias there working at the soundboard and lighting board. She had her glasses on and was looking over the actors on stage. They were doing their rehearsal, getting ready for the opening night of "How to Succeed in Business" which was coming up next Friday. Rias was working overtime, putting all her effort into it.

"Hey Rias," Issei said walking up to her. She looked behind her and smiled at seeing her good friend there.

"Hi Issei, it's nice to see you," she said with a happy tone of voice.

"Listen I'd like to ask you a question about..." he was about to say before Rias shushed him.

"Hold on, hold on, I need to go through this one dance number and then we can talk, okay," she said quickly before turning back to the soundboard and speaking into the microphone.

"Okay everybody, we're gonna do the number 'Brotherhood of Man' and then we can call a break for today. I want you all to put your best effort into it and have fun, okay?"

"Got it Rias," the actors all said from the stage.

"Alright, 3-2-1, now," Rias counted down and then pointed at the stage. She started a karaoke version of the song on her iPhone and put it out through the stereo system for them to sing along with.

 _Now, you may join the Elks, my friend,_

 _And I may join the Shriners;_

 _And other men may carry cards  
As members of the Diners._

 _Still others wear a golden key  
Or small Greek letter pin; to  
But I have learned there's one great club  
That all of us are in._

 _There is a Brotherhood of Man,  
A Benevolent Brotherhood of Man,  
A noble tie that binds  
All human hearts and minds  
Into one Brotherhood of Man._

 _Your lifelong membership is free.  
Keep agivin' each brother all you can.  
Oh aren't you proud to be  
In that fraternity,  
The great big Brotherhood of Man?_

 _One man may seem incompetent,  
Another not make sense,  
While others look like quite a waste  
Of company expense._

 _They need a brother's leadership,  
So please don't do them in.  
Remember mediocrity  
Is not a mortal sin._

 _They're in the Brotherhood of Man,  
Dedicated to giving all we can.  
Oh, aren't you proud to be  
In that fraternity,  
The great big Brotherhood of Man?_

Issei watched the whole time nodding his head as the actors danced and sang with the music. Rias adjusted the soundboard multiple times, changing between different microphones for each different line. This was a really fun show to watch as the actors danced and singed on the stage. As the song ended and finally stopped everybody on stage was laughing at everything. Rias looked very content with their performance and called out again.

"Great job everybody," she said happily, "that was just perfect, you can all go now. Again great job, I think this shows going to be a blast." At that the actors left and went to get changed out of their costumes.

"Rias that was very cool," Issei said with a smile. Rias then turned and slumped back in the chair taking off her glasses. He could see that she was looking very tired.

"Oh man this job is a killer. I'm working day and night to make sure this show goes great," she groaned.

"Classic Rias Gremory," Issei said jokingly, "always working so hard. I always wonder what you do in your spare time for fun though Rias, you never seem to have any."

"I do stuff," Rias said simply.

"What kind of stuff," Issei asked playfully.

"Just stuff, but enough with that, why did you come here Issei, the pit orchestra isn't practicing today."

"Well I meant to ask some questions. My best friend Ichigo and I started a rock band recently with two other guys and we're looking for someone who plays keyboards and synthesizers. We want to have a sort of progressive rock edge to our music. So I meant to ask if you knew anybody at all that plays keyboards," he asked.

"Oh umm," Rias said scratching her red hair in uncertainty, "I don't think so, I mean you're the main pianist in the pit orchestra so I don't understand why you couldn't do it."

"I'm not that technical when it comes to synths, it's all just a blur so I can't figure it out."

"Oh, well I'm sorry Issei but I can't help you there," Rias said sadly looking at the floor.

"No it's okay," Issei said patting her shoulder, "but if you meet anybody who can do it, would you tell me?"

"Of course, I certainly will," she said happily, "you should get back to class now, but remember to come for practice again. The show is next week and we got to be ready."

"I got it, thanks Rias," Issei said as he waved goodbye and left the auditorium. He was walking down the hallways bout to head to his next class.

"Well that was a miss, I do hope Ichigo is having better luck than I am."

* * *

Ichigo was on the school grounds during his free period. He had looked around the school and went to the music teacher to ask if anybody was interested in playing keyboards in a rock band. So far he had nothing.

"Geez, I never thought it would be this hard to find somebody, well I guess that leaves only one option, I'll have to ask Orihime," he thought to himself.

He went looking for her and found her sitting under the tree reading.

"Hey Orihime," he called out. She looked up from her books.

"Hi Ichigo," she said happily. He sat down next to her.

"What are you reading?"

" _Lord of the Flies_ ," she said, "Mrs. Akiyama assigned it in English class. She warned all of us it was disturbing and graphic, I just said 'how bad can some book from the 50's be' and I was definitely wrong," Orihime shivered at the stuff she had been reading.

"Hey Orihime can I ask you something?"

"Yeah, what," she asked curiously.

"Issei and I recently got some guys together and we started a rock band."

"Really that's awesome," she said happily.

"Yeah but we decided last week that we need someone to play keyboards. Do you know anything about organ, synthesizers, or Mellotrons," he asked her.

"Yes of course, it's fairly straightforward stuff. The organ is no different from the piano but synthesizers are more technical than with traditional piano as they more involve the use of sound frequencies more than use with the keyboard, but I know a lot about them and have played them before," she said to Ichigo.

"Really, well would you like to join," Ichigo asked. This caught Orihime by surprise.

"Oh well, I umm," she stammered.

"We don't mind having a girl in our group, it would create more variability. I think it would be cool," Ichigo said trying to keep her from getting nervous.

"Ichigo, I'm afraid I have other commitments. I would join your group if I could but I can't," she looked away from him sadly, "I'm sorry."

"Don't be, it's no big deal," he said smiling, "if you have other things to attend to I understand that. Thanks for telling me."

"Thank you," she said quietly with a smile. After that the bell rang and they both frantically got up to go to their next class.

* * *

Later that day after they got back from school, the band members were walking down the streets of Karakura Town talking to each other. Mostly about the fact that they're chances of finding a keyboard player were unsuccessful.

"I asked around everywhere in school, nobody I met could do a damn thing," Simon said sadly.

"Same goes for me," Natsu said, "I even went around my neighborhood asking random kids if they could do it and I still couldn't get a friggin person."

"So what's the plan now," Issei asked, "we've done as much as we could at this point."

"Put out some ads at the music store or on Twitter and Facebook?" Ichigo asked, "it seems like a good plan."

"I'm not one for social media but I guess it'll do," Issei said.

"I'm cool with it," Simon said.

"Yeah me too," Natsu said.

"Speaking of music store, since we're close, let's run inside," Issei said as they got close to the store called "Urahara's Rock & Roll Palace."

"How come," Simon asked.

"I need some new strings. My other ones have been rusting lately, and it's hurting my fingers," Issei said as he showed them his fingers that were covered with bad calluses.

"Oh, now I see," Simon said in monotone.

"Besides we know the owner Urahara, he might know some people that can help us," Ichigo said.

With that they walked inside the store.

What was inside was probably the coolest thing those two guys had ever seen. This store while small on the outside was gigantic inside and boasted some of the coolest equipment ever.

On the walls hung guitars and basses from different companies like Fender, Gibson, Ibanez, Dean, PRS, Schecter, you name it dude. The store also had keyboards, drums, old vinyl records, recording equipment, effects/pedal boards, accessories, everything you could imagine. This was like every musicians dream right here and it was right on the corner in a small town.

Sitting at the main counter was a guy who looked like he was in his early forties. He had blonde hair that looked almost white. He was wearing a hat and sunglasses. When he caught sight of Ichigo and Issei a giant smile crossed his face.

"Ichigo, Issei, how you doing," he said jovially.

"What's up Urahara," Issei said as he and Ichigo did a secret handshake sort of thing with Urahara.

"How are my best customers," he asked.

"We're good," Ichigo said, "still playing as usual, we even got ourselves a little band going."

"Excellent, and these are your band mates here if I am correct?"

"Sure are, this is Simon and Natsu," Issei said before turning to the both of them, "this is Kisuke Urahara, he's the owner and one of the greatest musicians ever in existence."

"Really," Natsu asked getting a little curious.

"Well I don't like to brag but you know," Urahara said shrugging his shoulders. He then got up and went over to a set of instruments over in a corner. What followed was the greatest bit of musicianship in the history of man. Urahara jammed on each instrument from guitar to bass to keyboards to drums. He did it with great charisma, talent, and enthusiasm. Simon and Natsu stood with their jaws on the ground, in awe at this great spectacle.

"I used to be a musician back in the eighties, working under the name _Tensai_."

"Wait as in... the... _Tensai_ , the famous singer, songwriter, musician, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer that had over twenty number one hits from the seventies to the late eighties. That was you," Natsu asked in astonishment.

"Yep that was me, and I was a one man band" Urahara said proudly. After that, Natsu fell back onto the floor.

"Natsu, you alright buddy," Simon yelled in concern.

Everyone looked at him as he laid there on the floor with a huge open mouth smile on his face.

"Maybe the shock was just too much for him," Issei said. Natsu got up from the floor and just stared at Urahara.

"Oh my god, I cannot fathom the fact that one of my favorite musicians is standing right in front of me, you're a legend," Natsu yelled in excitement.

"I made a lot of cash and records, but I grew bored in the nineties and decided to make my own store here in Karakura Town, I sell gear, fix instruments, and I give lessons."

"You see guys Urahara has been our main man to come to in terms of instruments. He's hooked us up with the greatest gear and equipment," Ichigo said smirking at the two of them.

"I also gave them some pointers on how to play their instruments," Urahara smirked at them.

"But I was taking guitar lessons from your former student Riser, remember that," Issei said, "the guy who constantly called me half assed.

"Oh yes, Riser was a stubborn, ornery, little son of a bitch. I tried to teach him kindly and he always snapped back at me, it's remarkable you survived four years of that crap Issei," Urahara sighed.

"We actually came to ask you Urahara, do you know any keyboard players here interested in joining a rock group," Ichigo asked.

"Well there may be someone, go check the keyboard section, you might find some."

They nodded and went into that section. However, Issei called back.

"Urahara could you also hook me up with some strings, my other ones are rusting up?"

"Sure will," Urahara called back.

In the keyboard section were loads of expensive equipment. There was everything like Moog analog synths, Hammond rock organs, and digital samplers.

"I cannot believe you're a pianist and you don't know crap on how to use synths at all," Natsu said to Issei.

"He's right shouldn't pianists be able to work with those," Simon asked.

"Sometimes, but like I said before it's very technical for me," Issei said shrugging his shoulders, "I could probably use one of those vocoder things though, I've seen people use them on YouTube a lot and they seem easy to handle."

"Oh I love those things," Ichigo said, "they make your voice sound really badass."

"Yeah I know."

They turned and saw a kid standing right there. He looked to be around their age. He was very skinny and tall with jet black hair.

"Sorry," he said scratching his head, "I tend to jump into other people's conversation."

"Hey it's cool, we were just talking about music," Issei said.

"My favorite thing ever," the kid said exuberantly.

"Well that's one reason people come to he music store don't they," Ichigo said laughing. The kid just shrugged in response.

"My names Lelouch by the way," he said, "Lelouch Lumperage."

"Issei Hyoudou," he said shaking hands, "and these guys here are Ichigo, Simon, and Natsu."

"So are you guys a band or something?"

"Well a partially formed one yeah," Natsu said.

"Well four guys is a lot isn't it," Lelouch chortled.

"Well you see we like prog and alternative rock but we need a keyboard player in order to do it," Simon said.

"Issei can play piano rather well, but all the synths, organ, and other crap he doesn't know a thing about," Ichigo said.

"It's true," Issei said guilty and shrugged.

"How about I do it," Lelouch said.

The four friends became elated. They finally were able to find somebody who could play. Still there was much to be done, they had to see how good he was at it.

"Well, you'll have to show us," Issei said. This caught Lelouch off guard, he didn't expect he'd need to audition. Then again it was necessary because you had to show what skills you had before you joined anything.

"Umm..okay," Lelouch said with uncertainty, "you guys want to come over to my house for a while and see what I can do."

"Sure why not," Ichigo said. The other guys nodded at the proposal.

"I live in an apartment complex not far from here, you can come there."

"Sounds good," Issei said, "lead the way."

They followed Lelouch as they led him out of the store.

"Hey Issei," Urahara called, "don't forget your strings."

He tossed Issei a pack of strings which Issei quickly caught.

"Hey thanks."

He took a couple dollars and laid them on the counter. Before he walked out he gave Urahara a thumbs up, which he gladly returned. As soon as he was gone, Urahara laid back in his chair.

"Hehehe, those kids are gonna rule the world someday."

* * *

Lelouch led them downtown to a nice looking apartment complex. It was positioned near the downtown area where cars would pass by everyday.

"This is the place," he said to them.

"Nice apartments," Issei said looking around.

He got them through the door and they took the elevator up to the eighth floor. As they waited in the elevator they struck up conversation.

"Are your parents home," Natsu asked.

"Uhh, I think my mom may be, my dad works until six at least," Lelouch said, "I think my sister is here though."

"You have a sister," Ichigo asked.

"Yep, her name is Nunnally, I think she'll like you guys," Lelouch said smiling.

The elevator stopped and they got out. They went to the first door on the floor where Lelouch unlocked it with a key. The inside of the room was very nice looking and spacious. It was fairly large for an apartment room. The living room had nice furniture, and the walls were decorated with old Japanese art and decor.

"Nunnally, mom, I'm home," Lelouch called out.

The next second a little girl in a wheelchair came into the room. She was rather adorable to look at, as she had blonde hair and violet eyes. The boys looked at her quietly, not saying a single word.

"Hi Lelouch," the girl said in a quiet voice full of sincerity.

"Hey little sis," Lelouch said happily, "is Mom home."

"No, she went to the grocery store, but she'll be back soon," she said before she caught sight of the other four. "Who are they?"

"A couple guys I met down at the music shop, they wanted to see me play so I brought them here to show them. Guys this is Nunnally, my little sister."

They smiled and waved politely to her. She smiled in response and let out a quiet chuckle.

"It's a pleasure, I think you'll find my brother to be greatly talented in his music," Nunnally said sweetly as she moved the chair into the other room.

"I'll go get my equipment set up," Lelouch said as he walked into one of the other rooms. The guys were looking at the door where Nunnally went in.

"She seems like a good kid," Issei said.

"But why is she in a wheelchair," Simon asked nervously.

"Be cool Simon," Ichigo said quickly, "I think maybe she might have been in a really bad accident or something."

"You guys gonna come in or what," Lelouch called back.

"Right, sorry," Natsu called back.

They followed Lelouch into his room where he was connecting wires into amplifiers. In the room were two keyboards. The first was a standard one that had built in preset sounds to recreate the sounds of an organ, strings, pads, and others. The second was an analog synthesizer, a small one to be exact.

"My dad made this room so I could practice correctly, you guys ready to hear some stuff," he asked.

"Knock yourself out," Issei said.

Lelouch started off rather simply, doing some simple background noise. He later progressed through the sounds and recreated certain rock tracks with the organ, strings, and synth pad presets, recording the sounds and looping them while he played.

It was astonishing. The way he played was very technical. He could switch between everything quickly and his playing was pretty fast. After some time he went to the synthesizer and began playing on that, messing with the pitch bend and oscillators to create spaceship like sounds. This guy could just play.

Eventually he finished. The four guys clapped at him as he took a bow.

"So, am I in," Lelouch asked.

"Oh yeah," they all said in unison.

* * *

The the five of them decided to take a stroll through the park. They were discussing their plans since they finally got their band together. They talked about the possibility of making a demo.

"I like the idea," Lelouch said, "but chances can be slim."

"Yeah, but we can do it and if we get rejected than we just say 'whatever we still did it'," Ichigo said.

"Actually guys," Simon said, "I think we should take some vows since we started this finally."

"Vows" Issei asked.

"Yeah like stuff that we can all promise each other so that we can keep each other going."

"Oh that'll work," Natau said before he started thinking of something, "how about we always stick together."

"That's one, how about we'll always assist each other in the writing," Ichigo said.

"Very smart I like that one," Issei said.

"Never get involved in drugs or alcohol," Simon said.

"Oh yeah definitely, there's no way I'd ever do that" Lelouch said, "how about never get into any fights at all."

"Yeah, but I think the most important thing is, lets never keep anyone in the dark. Let's always let a certain guy do what they please when they want to write or play something. We'll always be open to what they want," Issei declared. All of them smiled and nodded at Issei's suggestion.

"But wait, what will we call ourselves," Lelouch asked, "every band needs a name."

"Actually I thought of using the name Sole Survivor, it's catchy and it fits nicely," Ichigo suggested.

"There's a band that already has that name though," Simon said.

"That's right," Natsu said.

"Aww damn it," Ichigo groaned in disappointment.

"Wait how about instead of Sole Survivor, we called ourselves Soul Society," Issei said.

The other guys then smiled at the suggestion of name.

"That's awesome Issei," Lelouch said, "where'd you get the idea?"

"It just came to me, from who knows where," Issei shrugged, "but let's remember we're a band now, so let's go out and rock."

They all put their hands forward and assembled them into a team hand stack. They then pushed forward and shouted out into the sky.

"YEAH!"

* * *

Issei walked down the school hallway heading to his locker. Fourth period had finally ended and it was time for lunch. As he was putting his books away, he heard what sounded like two voices arguing.

"What the hell is that," he wondered as he walked to where it was coming from.

Soon he came to the center of the hallway where the auditorium was. The yelling was coming from inside.

"Look all I way saying was..."

"No say it to me truthfully, what the hell were you saying!?"

Issei took a glimpse inside and saw that it was two actors from the play, Fumio and Daichi. Fumio was the actor playing Mr. Twimble and a good friend of Issei's. Daichi was the one playing Finch but he wasn't a friend of Issei's, in fact he probably wasn't a friend of anyone.

Daichi was by the far the most unlikeable person in the entire Kuoh Academy theater department. He had played the lead role in the musicals four times already and because of that he had a huge ego. Everybody talked badly about him behind their backs, especially about how much of a jerk he was. And not to mention he was probably acting like one again. Issei stood there taking in what they were saying.

"All I was saying one, your voice sounded a little off key," Fumio tried to say in a reasonable tone.

"Oh really, because it seems like you were contradicting me in front of everybody in there," Daichi retorted angrily.

"I was not Daichi," Fumio snapped back, "everybody here needs some kind of constructive criticism if they're going to get better."

"Well in that case, I win," he said before smiling in this arrogant way.

"What?"

"This competition you started just now, I won."

"Competition?"

"Yeah the competition to see who's better, it seems I win because I'm the star attraction and your just the mailroom guy," Daichi rambled on.

"THAT WAS TOTALLY NOT WHAT I SAID," Fumio shouted back at him.

Issei couldn't take any more of this. He had heard how much of a jerk Daichi was, but he didn't expect him to be this bad. And if he was going to go and mock one of his closest friends over something so stupid than there was no way Issei was going to take it lying down. He then made his presence known.

"Stop it!"

Daichi and Fumio both turned and saw a very angry Issei heading towards them. Daichi groaned at this.

"Oh look, here come little boy Hyoudou."

"Issei," Fumio said, "what are you doing here?"

"Sticking up for you against this self-righteous piece of crap," Issei said to him before going face to face with Daichi.

"I was just telling off this loser for insulting my singing during auditions yesterday."

"Really," Issei asked, "because it seems to me that your ego was speaking for itself. Don't you understand that theater isn't about competition Daichi? It's supposed to be about making friends and enjoying yourself. Clearly you do not see the point of it and instead feel it as a way to feed your ego. Well if you go insulting my friends there is no way I'm gonna get you get away with it."

"Doesn't really matter does it," Daichi said still keeping his pompous grin, "next week I'll be the shining star of Kuoh Academy when we put this show on the road."

"Not anymore."

They both turned and saw Rias standing in the doorway. She looked like she was royally pissed off as she walked towards Daichi. Hell, Fumio and Issei looked terrified by her as well.

"Oh uh Rias," Daichi mumbled getting fearful, "these guys were being very rude to me..."

"Save it Daichi," Rias interrupted, "I heard everything. I told you multiple times that if you didn't change your behavior you'd be cut from the play. Well, this is the final straw."

"No, no, NO, YOU CAN'T DO THAT," Daichi shouted in panic.

"I'm the student manager of the theater department, I can do whatever I want," she said with a smirk, "now get out of my sight you pretentious little twit."

Daichi walked away but not before giving a death glare to Issei who stood very still, not intimidated in the slightest by him.

"Are you okay Fumio," Rias asked putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Yeah, thanks for helping me out there guys," Fumio thanked.

"No problem bro," Issei said, "that's what friends are for right."

Fumio nodded before he walked away.

"I'll tell you," Rias turned to Issei, "I really didn't want to cast Daichi for the part, but he was the only one who auditioned for the lead."

Issei gasped at the sudden realization, there was no one to play the lead.

"Crap," he yelled, "Rias, what are we going to do, we have no one to play Finch."

Rias turned to Issei with a smile on her face.

"Oh no no," Issei prattled waving his hands in the air, "I can't do it."

"Of course you can," Rias said, "you're a former theater actor, I'd think you'd be able to cover it well."

"But who will handle the mic switching," Issei asked trying to weasel his way out of it.

"I know another person who can cover it," Rias reassured. She then looked at him with desperate eyes, "please do this for me Issei. I've busted my ass to try and get this thing running. To have all of it go to waste after so much work."

Issei looked down at the floor before he made his decision, "ok, I'll do it."

Rias jumped up in excitement and gave Issei a big hug.

"THANK YOU, THANK YOU SO MUCH," she squealed. She then reached into her backpack and pulled out a spare script, "since we have a week in advance you could probably memorize your lines quickly. If you need help just call me and meet with me after school so I can give you pointers. Thanks again."

Rias walked off as Issei looked at the script in his hands. This was really going to be a big commitment for him. No doubt about it. Not to mention, what would the rest of the band think about it?

 **I finally got this chapter out. So now we got Lelouch involved the group. Thanks forever everyone for their support.**

 **I took a while to update because I had initially become kind of wary with this story particulary with certain filler things I added. I also removed the spam negative comments thing because I began to find it absurd. I will point out that I am open to people's opinions and constructive criticism, but the real reason I posted that was because I didn't want any comments that were harsh, demeaning, or unpleasant. We're all here to have a good time. I am open to everybody's opinions and I welcome them freely.**

 **All rights to videos presented above belong to: Sebastián, and GuilbeauxFan**

 **How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying belongs to Shepherd Mead and Frank Loesser. (I didn't use the full lyrics to Brotherhood of Man, but the video still has them all.)**


	4. Chapter 4: The Deal

**Hey guys, welcome back. I've decided to try and put out a couple more chapters before Christmas hits, so I'm gonna get the major ones out right now.**

 **watch?v=qyCZN0B49Yk**

 **Chapter 4: The Deal**

It had been a couple weeks since Issei, Ichigo, Simon, Lelouch and Natsu finally assembled Soul Society. It was a fun experience for all of them. Since they all first met, they would be meeting every single weekend and having. jam sessions. They would mostly do covers of their favorite groups and present new song ideas they had come up with on their own.

It was hard to meet at first considering what ended up happening with Kuoh Academy's production of How to Succeed when Issei ended up having to play the part of Finch.

He had initially been fearful to tell his bandmates and screw up their practice sessions. However, after telling them he was assigned the lead role they were hugely enthusiastic and encouraged him to do his best.

After Rias had given him the part, he worked very hard to prepare for the role. He studied all the lines every single night, watched the movie to learn how to deliver the lines properly and learn the dancing, and met with Rias every day after school to receive pointers on how to do it.

When the first performance happened, it was a big hit for the school. Parents and other students really loved it. In fact, Issei received a lot of credit for playing Finch, particularly for one particular musical number...

...

 _It was opening night at the school. It was the second act of the play, the scene where Finch and the other employees are in the bathroom. Issei walked in, dressed up in fifties style work clothes with his hair slicked back._

 _"Hiya men," he said in his character voice._

 _"Ready for the big meeting," the one other actor said._

 _"Sure am, wish me luck men."_

 _"Good luck," they all said._

 _The music then started as the other actors walked to the side. Issei stood by the mirror pretending to shave. After a couple moments, the other actors began to sing._

 ** _All_** _: Gotta stop that man, I gotta stop that man. Or he'll stop me. Big deal, big rocket, thinks he has the world in his pocket. Gotta stop, gotta stop, gotta stop that man._

 _Then as Issei looked into the mirror he began to sing too._

 _ **Issei** : __Now there you are. Yes, there's that face, That face that somehow I trust. It may embarrass you to hear me say it, But say it I must, say it I must. You have the cool, clear, eyes of a seeker of wisdom and truth; Yet there's that upturned chin. And that grin of impetuous youth. Oh, I believe in you. I believe in you._

 _Issei had a lot of charisma as he sang and danced around the stage. He felt nervous to be the center of attention, but then he realized he just needed to be focused more on singing and being in character rather than worry about what others thought._

 _ **Issei** : I hear the sound of good, solid judgment, whenever you talk; Yet there's the bold, brave spring of the tiger. That quickens your walk. Oh, I believe in you. I believe in you. And when my faith in my fellow man all but falls apart, I've but to feel your hand grasping mine And I take heart; I take heart _

_To see the cool, clear eyes of a seeker of wisdom and truth; Yet, with the slam-bang tang reminiscent of gin and vermouth. Oh, I believe in you. I believe in you._

 _ **All** : Gotta stop that man, gotta stop that man. Or he'll stop me. Big wheel, big beaver. Boiling hot, with front office fever. Gotta stop, gotta stop, gotta stop that man._

 _ **Issei** : I believe in you, I believe in you_

 _ **All** : Don't let him be such a hero._

 _ **Issei** : I believe in you._

 _Once the song ended the whole audience applauded. The other actors departed from the stage to get ready for the next scene. Issei took a quick second to catch sight of Rias who was working the soundboard. She gave him a thumbs up and he quickly nodded before departing from the stage._

...

It was a great time for Issei and he had fun playing the role. But now that he and the others guy had free time on their hands, they could get back to playing in the band. And so far they've done great.

The band followed a strict code, they played whatever each member wanted to do, regardless of genre or taste. It was funny though, because so far they all wanted to do the same kind of music. They hadn't really felt any difference in taste, and there wasn't any song that a member wanted to cover that the other guys didn't become happy at being able to do.

It was certain each member did have a style that they added that defined their role in the group.

Issei saw himself as the everyman. He didn't feel like he had any particular style of music that he would just cling to. He could play anything and was fine with playing just anything. As the group's main pianist and co-lead guitarist, he was capable of it all.

Ichigo was more heavy metal than the other guys. With his prominent shred guitar style an high ranging operatic singing voice, he led the more hard rock style of the group. Still he wasn't stubborn to ignore other kinds of styles and was open to anything, but he would put his own personal flare to it somehow.

Simon had a bass style that transcended traditional blues and jazz to more heavy rock and metal songs. He was also really good on acoustic guitar, especially fingerstyle.

Lelouch had a distinctive keyboard playing style that was highly reminiscent of 70's progressive bands and electronic ambient music. He also did some piano stuff with the keyboards, but mostly left that up to Issei, mostly because Issei had more experience with acoustic piano than Lelouch did.

And finally Natsu who's drumming was heavily reminiscent of jazz and hard rock drummers. He could do everything from complex rhythms down to simple beats.

Not to mention they were all capable of writing lyrics and most of the members, minus Natsu, could sing.

Right now, they were focusing on getting a demo ready. They had checked out certain record labels through the Internet but they weren't sure which could sign them. It didn't matter now though, they just needed to know what exactly they were going to pull off with it.

All they hoped was that they were good enough for others to enjoy, and they could make others happy with their music.

* * *

That morning Ichigo woke up and went downstairs to the kitchen. It was a rainy Tuesday morning. It was these kind of days that made Ichigo very melancholy. Not just him, but the other guys, especially Issei.

"Good morning everybody," Ichigo said optimistically

"Hi honey," Masaki said as she was making eggs. Isshin was sitting at the table reading his paper, and Karin and Yuzu were sitting down and they both waved at Ichigo. He waved back and sat down at the table.

"Ichigo, how's your band going," Yuzu asked innocently.

"It's good little sis," Ichigo said, "we've been meeting every weekend."

"I've never seen you so committed to this son," Isshin said.

"Well you can thank mom for that," Ichigo said motioning to his mother.

"It's true, I convinced him to start it with Issei, it seemed like a great idea," Masaki said as she brought the food to the table.

"So what do you plan on now big bro," Karin asked.

"Well recently we decided to try and make a demo and send it into the record company," Ichigo stated.

"Really," Isshin asked.

"Yeah dad," Ichigo said.

At hearing that, Masaki's started scratching her head in uncertainty.

"Umm, Ichigo, that sounds good and all, but do you know how slim the chances are."

"Yes mom, I know," Ichigo said, "but we're not really planning on trying to get famous, we're just doing it for fun. I wouldn't expect anything to come from this."

"Honey, it doesn't seem like a terrible idea, I don't see why," Isshin tried to say before he was given the death stare by his wife. This caused him to shut up immediately, hell even Ichigo and his sisters were frightened by it. Masaki Kurosaki was sweet as can be, but she became a monster if you provoked or pissed her off.

"I'm just going to say Ichigo that the chances aren't as great as before. It was easy in the seventies and eighties because labels were always looking for groups. But today it is much more difficult. Even some talented musicians are wasting away in the streets."

"Was it hard to get in to that orchestra mom," Yuzu asked.

"Certainly," Masaki said, "I had to go through so many music theory classes, and recitals in college before I was accepted into that orchestra. Something else was, after several years I started to become largely disinterested with the whole thing and decided to quit. Things lose their excitement after a while, especially with music."

"Do you ever think of playing with the orchestra again mom," Ichigo asked, "I still see you playing piano everyday, I always think you will."

"Maybe," Masaki said shrugging her shoulders, "but right now I don't see a real need."

"It's not really to get famous though mom, we just want to have fun. We're all skilled musicians, songwriters, and singers, well except Natsu, and we just want to do something for fun. If we don't get accepted, then whatever but you can't say we didn't try."

"Suit yourself," Masaki said, "I'm just telling you what your chances are."

"Okay mom," Ichigo then looked at his watch and his eyes went wide, "aw crap I gotta get to class!" Ichigo panicked and grabbed his book bag. He quickly pulled on his raincoat and dashed to the front door, running outside into the rain.

"ICHIGO," Masaki called out standing at the door.

"Yeah mom," Ichigo called back.

"Aren't you forgetting something," she said sweetly, she then held up a brown paper bag containing his lunch.

"Oops," Ichigo mumbled. He ran back to the front door of the house and got his lunch. He gave his mother a kiss on the cheek and again darted off to school.

"Bye honey, have a good day."

"I love you mom," Ichigo called back.

"Love you too," Masaki said before she went back inside.

* * *

Issei sat in the school library reading through his assignments. He was hoping to try and make the principal's list this year on the honor roll. As he was sitting, Rias came in and seeing him sitting alone at the desk walked up to the desk, and sat next to him.

"Hi Issei," she said sweetly.

"Oh hey Rias, what's up?"

"Nothing much, just hanging out," she said, "I never got to chance to say thank you. By taking the lead role you saved me big time."

"I know," Issei shrugged, "I kind of miss that I didn't get to play the piano for the show this time."

"Well hopefully for the next show you'll get to do it," Rias said, "that is if you don't want to act again."

"I'll consider it," Issei said, "I do like the theater so that may happen."

"I love the theater," Rias said, "if there was any career I'd like to choose it would either be as a playwright, dancer, singer, the person behind the scenes or anything at all related to Broadway.

"Actually Rias I have to ask, did you ever play an instrument," Issei asked curiously. As much as he'd seen Rias work with everything in the theater, he sort of expected she would play some music.

"Well I did try to play piano when I was around four," Rias said.

"How'd that go?"

"I gave up after about three weeks," Rias said. Issei jumped back at this, he'd never known anybody who would just turn their back on the piano. Some people would because the music seems to hard, it was most likely shocking to him because he loved the piano.

"Really," Issei asked flabbergasted, "why would you do that?"

"It just wasn't fun at all. I like listening to piano music but playing it was frustrating, difficult, and boring. My fingers would just fidget and hit the wrong keys every time. I think the only thing I got from it was how to read music but everything else I couldn't do, so I just quit," Rias explained. "I can see you're very good at it no doubt, but you have a different taste for it, I'm just different when it comes to it."

"Would you ever want to try it again," Issei asked.

"Oh no," Rias said quickly and firmly, "I'm not confident when it comes to playing the piano, but I discovered after a short while that I was very good at the..."

"Oh crap, class is starting soon I gotta move," Issei shouted as he looked at his watch, interrupting Rias. He got up from the seat and darted out of the library frantically.

"But wait, Issei, wait," Rias called back. She looked down at the floor and sighed sadly at not being able to finish what she would say to him. Just then she felt her phone vibrating in her pocket. She curiously reached into her pocket, pulled it out, and answered it.

"Hello," she said, it was her best friend on the other line, "oh you did, that's cool, yeah, alright I'll see you after school. Yeah, we're going to get this thing going I promise. I'll see you later bye."

Rias and this friend had a secret that they were waiting to surprise their closest friends with. Rias was sure Issei would find this secret very cool once they prepared it fully.

* * *

The friends went over to Simon's house later that day. The last time they met they brought up the idea of a demo and now they were going to discuss what they were going to do from there.

"So what do we do," Natsu said.

"Well considering the circumstances I say we each write tunes independently then bring them in, record them, and then send them in," Lelouch said.

"Yeah I think since this band is a democracy," Issei said, "we all show what we got."

"I'm with it," Ichigo said.

"So let's work on our own tunes, compose them, write lyrics, then we'll come in and record it," Lelouch said.

"Okay," they all said.

The demo was ready within a week. They had put all their effort into it and threw in as much time as they could.

It consisted of six tracks, the five were done by each member. They individually composed the songs, wrote the lyrics, and sang it. Natsu was the only member to not sing and he asked Issei and Ichigo to sing the vocals for the track he wrote and composed, which they gladly did. With each track there was a distinction for each individual member like guitar solos, bass solos, synthesizer/keyboard solos, drum solos, etc.

The sixth track was an instrumental composed by all the members, simply titled "Generation X". The idea to make an instrumental was thought up by Issei and Lelouch who considered having at least one track that was more musically driven than vocal driven and was a collaborative effort amongst the whole band.

It was around seven minutes long and went from melodic to very heavy. Like all the other tracks it had the distinction for each individual member. The only difference being it was all rolled into a single, seven minute track.

In terms of genre, the music took on aspects of rock, metal, and alternative. The members didn't give a name to the genre of the demo and referred to it simply as "rock" because really how was it any different, it still felt like a good rock demo didn't it?

Issei looked on the Internet to find a good label to sponsor them. He looked through all the major labels throughout Tokyo. He considered sending it into both major and indie labels to better their chances of being accepted. There was one major label in particular that came to mind and that was Espada Records.

Espada Records was the largest and most successful record label in Tokyo, Japan. They had managed some of the most well known musical artists ever and were a multi billion dollar corporation. Some of the guy's favorite artists had been managed here. Issei decided this would be their main place of action. Chances of rejection were high here, but never say die when you can try.

Late Thursday, the five of them went outside to Issei's mailbox with an envelope in hand. In it was the disk that they put the demo on, all six tracks. They were finally going to send it in.

"Well this is it," Issei said holding it in his hand.

"You know that those chances are slim right," Simon said.

"Yeah we know, but still it's good to try it," Lelouch shrugged.

"He's right, besides we put a lot of effort into this, let's not look down on all we did," Ichigo said.

"And if they reject it, so what we'll find a different label," Natsu suggested.

They all nodded at this before Issei put the envelope in the mailbox. A couple minutes later, the mailman came and took it away. The friends said goodbye to each other and all went home.

* * *

Two weeks later, Issei was sitting in his English class working on the in-class assignment. While the teacher was giving his lecture, Issei's mind began to wander. He sat there thinking to himself as he looked out the window.

He and Soul Society were still having jam sessions at each other's houses on the weekends. However, they had not gotten a response for a long time. Over that time Issei began to think that maybe he wasn't good enough to be a musician in spite of all the years he played since he was a young child. He wondered what else he could do for a living if music didn't work out for him.

"I could do art maybe, make films or take photographs for the newspaper."

Issei did like art a lot too. He couldn't draw pictures that well but in terms of photography, he was relatively good. He would take pictures of landscapes, houses, cars, anything he could get his hands on. He also took videos, something he joined the school's TV Class to get more advanced in, and he thought it was a fun class to participate in.

"Mr. Hyoudou," Issei's teacher remarked. Issei snapped out of his thoughts and turned to the front.

"Sir," he asked confused.

"Would you answer the question please," the teacher asked him.

"Oh yes, Jay Gatsby's life of poverty was his motivation to become rich, and his love for Daisy Buchanan later pushed that motivation even farther, but even though he is rich now, she still will not leave her husband Tom for Gatsby," Issei said, reciting what he had read last night.

"That is right," the teacher said continuing with his lecture.

Issei's day went on as usual until he got done school around three. He walked home from school and changed into casual clothes. He lied down on the bed in for a while a little bored.

"I don't have a lot of homework and the other guys are busy today, maybe I'll go ride my bike."

He decided to go for a ride around the neighborhood on his bike. He liked bike riding because it was a good way to clear his head, and a good exercise method, especially since Issei wasn't the best at sports.

As he rode around he just kept thinking of what would happen if they did get accepted, would they stop going to school, would they move out of the city, would they be popular around school, what would happen?

Issei finished his bike ride and went back to the garage. He put his bike away, but looked at the mailbox. By a gut impulse he decided to go see. He opened the mailbox and saw a couple envelopes inside, which he took out.

"Probably just a bunch of junk mail," he said as he looked through each envelope. After a couple envelopes he stopped dead when he saw the last one.

The one envelope had the mark on it that said _Espada Records_. At reading this, Issei dropped the other envelopes in shock. He opened the envelope and its contents surprised him even more. A huge smile crossed his face and in a second, he reached his hands out to the sky and screamed out in joy.

"YEEEAAAHHHHHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

* * *

Issei ran upstairs to his bedroom and pulled out his phone. He called all four of the guys on the phone.

"Hello," they all answered.

"Guys, I got good news," Issei ecstatically said on the phone.

"What is it," Simon asked on the other line.

"Espada responded back to us."

"NO WAY," they all yelled on the phone causing Issei to jump back.

"What does the letter say," Ichigo asked.

"You're gonna have to come over and see it," Issei said to them. Just then he heard his doorbell ring.

"Huh?"

Curious he went downstairs and upon opening the door shrieked at the sight.

He saw all the other guys standing there. They were panting heavily and sweating, they had run all the way over in only a couple minutes? That was scary. They had serious looks on their faces which made Issei feel uncomfortable.

"Show...us...the...letter."

* * *

 _Dear Members of Soul Society,_

 _We have recently received your demo tape a couple weeks back and after close examination we greatly enjoy it. We find all of you to be exceptionally talented young musicians._

 _From this we would like to make the decision to sign you up for a record deal and let you record a debut album. We also would like to meet you at our main headquarters in Tokyo soon to discuss your plans._

 _We hope to set you up with a manager who will give you special advice on what should be done. We thank you for your work and wish to talk to you soon._

 _Sincerely,_

 _Gin Ichimaru_

"THIS IS OUR BIG BREAK," Natsu yelled ectastically.

"This is gonna be great, we'll get signed up and we'll make an album," Simon said also excited.

"Now let's wait a minute here guys," Lelouch said, "it's good that we got signed up, but there is still a lot that has to be done."

"He's right, besides the fact that we got signed, there's still the fact of getting a bunch of songs written, recording, and then getting noticed."

"I think he'll talk about this with us when we go in," Issei said, "they do talk about establishing a fanbase before the record is released."

"More importantly, when are we going to head there to meet the CEO," Natsu asked.

"Maybe this weekend if we can," Ichigo said.

"Let's plan on it. We've got this chance and we're not gonna mess it up," Issei said firmly.

* * *

They drove out to Tokyo that Sunday to meet with the CEO. Issei's mother dropped them off at around 11:30 into the morning. As she pulled the car into the main lot she looked back and talked to the boys.

"I want you all to be on your best behavior," Mrs. Hyoudou said.

"We understand mom, we're not stupid you know," Issei said defensively.

"This is an important meeting and I don't want you all to mess it up, so be on your best behavior and do not act idiotic," she warned them.

"Yes ma'am," they all said. They got out of the car while Issei's mom drove away.

They were all dressed in dress clothes, which they didn't want to wear initially but had to at the behest of their parents. Surprisingly their parents seemed very excited at the fact they got a deal, but Ichigo's mother still seemed very wary of the whole situation. No matter, now they had to go in, talk to the boss, and then figure out where they were going to go from here.

They walked into the building and were awestruck at the scenery. This building was very nice looking inside. There were office desks along the side with people sitting and working. It was very surprising how big the industry was, especially in terms of this.

"Man, I've never seen something this cool before," Natsu said.

"Yup, this is a big corporate industry. They do everything," Lelouch said.

"So where do we go from here," Simon asked looking around to find someone.

"Excuse me."

They turned and saw a woman in her mid 20's walking towards them. She was a very attractive looking woman with long blonde hair and pale blue eyes, wearing a business suit and reading glasses while carrying a clipboard.

"May I help you gentlemen," she said to them in a business like tone.

Issei decided to step forward and talk to this lady.

"Yes, we are the members of Soul Society, and we are here today to speak to Mr. Ichimaru, the CEO. He sent us a letter recently asking us to meet him here, and we set up a meeting for today."

"Let me check here." She looked through her clipboard mumbling. Finally she came upon their names and when their meeting was scheduled. "Oh yes, Mr. Ichimaru will be seeing you now, follow me and I'll take you to his office."

"Thank you ma'am," Ichigo responded politely.

She led them to the elevator where they all got on. She pressed the button for the top floor, not surprising since this guy was the boss. They followed the lady quietly as she led them to the office. They sat down on the couches and sofas that were in the room.

"Now you all wait here, he'll be seeing you in a minute," she said as she left the room.

"This is it guys, let's not mess up here," Ichigo said firmly.

"Yeah I know, I'll keep my hyperactivity to a minimum," Natsu said chuckling.

"Think this guy might be too strict or what not," Simon asked.

"I really don't know," Issei shrugged, "maybe he is."

"I hope not," Lelouch said, "that would be scary."

The door opened and in came a tall man in a business suit. He looked like he was in his early-30's, he had silver hair and a big smile. The boys all sat up straight upon his entrance.

"Hello boys," he said enthusiastically.

"Hello Mr. Ichimaru," they all said at the same time nervously.

"Oh please it's Gin, Mr. Ichimaru is my dad, so how are you all today," he said kindly.

"We're fine sir," Ichigo said, "thank you for responding to us."

"Indeed, so can you all state your names and occupation in the band," he said as he took a seat.

"Issei Hyoudou, guitar, piano, and vocals," Issei said.

"Ichigo Kurosaki, guitar, and vocals," Ichigo said.

"Simon, bass, acoustic guitar, and vocals," Simon said.

"Lelouch Lumperage, keyboards, and vocals," Lelouch said.

"Natsu Dragneel, drums, and percussion," Natsu said.

"Pleasure to meet you all, so let's talk about your demo

"Well uh, we made it in about a week and composed each individual track for each member," Lelouch said.

"Did you all sing the vocals and write the lyrics," Gin asked.

"Yeah, we all write," Simon said.

"I don't sing though," Natsu said, "I'm not good at it, I can write though."

"So I took a listen to your demo and I must say I really enjoyed it. It shows real talent from all of you and from that I'd been interested in signing you on to Espada Records, and from this I'd like to have you all record a debut album."

"Thank you sir, we're very excited about this," Issei said with a smile.

"However, there is a difficulty that is arising from this," Gin said. Issei grew very nervous at this. He wondered what they did wrong that he was telling them if right now.

"The difficulty is you are not very known," Gin said simply.

"Do you mean we're not very well known around the city," Lelouch asked.

"That is correct. What you need to do is establish a fanbase and promote yourself a little better. This takes a lot of work but I am certain you can achieve this. I'm going to get a manager to direct you guys with this goal and he will guide you. I want you all to work hard on this and then once you have that accomplished, meet back here and we'll get started on recording your album."

"Thank you sir," they all said.

"You're welcome," Gin said, "but don't call me sir. This is a team effort and we're all in this together."

 **Well this was a lot to process. Hey guys I hope your all doing well, but I needed to process these ideas correctly before I posted this. Also since we're nearing the holidays and I've been getting everything ready since my family is going to be here, I was working very hard. I'm looking forward to the next chapter where they meet their manager and start rocking out. This is where I'm gonna start incorporating songs and video links. Until then. VGA.**


	5. Chapter 5: How to Get a Fanbase

**What's up guys, hope you all are doing well and hope you all had a good Christmas. Glad to finally be back and with a new chapter that I think you're gonna love, but I'm getting ahead of myself. Read on everybody**

 **Chapter 5: How to Get A Fanbase**

Lelouch got up early the following morning. Gin told them he would set them up with a manager and they planned to meet him at a local café in Karakura City.

Ever since the meeting at Espada Records the other day, Lelouch had kept thinking about what this whole dead would bring them. Being famous did sound cool and all, but would they become arrogant, would they need to drop out of school, how would this go? It made Lelouch feel kind of uncomfortable in a way. He really didn't want things to go through major changes.

Some musicians when they got famous would stay nice and all, but then there's those that became huge jerks and snobs overtime. It just felt so unneccesary and uncalled for to act that way. Lelouch hated that and he knew darn well that he did not want to become that kind of person. Knowing the other guys, he knew they didn't want to become that way too.

After he got changed he decided to watch some TV before he left. In spite of that, he could not get his mind off the thoughts that were whirling around in his head about the music stuff.

As he was watching the TV, his little sister Nunnally, who had just woken up, rolled into the room. She smiled as she saw her brother awake.

"Hi Lelouch, what are you doing," Nunnally said as she rolled her chair into the room and went up next to her brother.

"Huh, oh hello Nunnally, I'm just watching some TV," he responded with a smile.

"How did your meeting go yesterday," she asked.

"Oh umm, it was okay, we got ourselves a deal," Lelouch said.

"Really that sounds really amazing," she said in a chipper tone.

"Yeah it does," Lelouch said quietly.

"Lelouch, is something wrong," Nunnally asked. Lelouch looked to his sister and saw she had a somewhat worried expression.

Nunnally Lumperage could always sense when Lelouch wasn't feeling happy. It had been sort of a natural inclination she had since she was little, next to her happy-go-lucky attitude and optimism which she kept even after she lost the ability to walk. It was amazing that despite the fact she was paralyzed and would have to be in a wheelchair for the rest of her life, she was always so optimistic.

Lelouch knowing that he could never lie to his sister, told her the truth, "I'm just thinking about this whole deal, and what effects it's gonna have on me and the others. Getting to the top sounds really fun and all, but I don't really think I want things to change."

"Who ever said things needed to change," Nunnally said. Lelouch turned to his sister with a confused expression.

"What?" Lelouch asked dumbly.

"Things will change only if you want them to, if you don't then they won't," she said as she cuddled up to her brother.

"I hope so," Lelouch said simply. He couldn't help but smile.

"Time to get going son," he heard his dad call.

"Ok dad," he called back.

On the car ride to the city, Lelouch was fairly quiet. Mr. Lumperage heard the conversation between him and Nunnally that morning, it was eavesdropping but he felt it necessary. After a couple minutes of silence, Mr. Lumperage broke the silence.

"Nothing's going to change Lelouch."

Lelouch turned to his dad a little confused, "what do you mean dad?"

"I heard you and Nunnally talking earlier, and I heard what you said."

"You did?" Lelouch asked and his dad nodded in response. "I just feel this is a big step in my life and I think that being famous might bring a lot of pressure," Lelouch said quietly as he looked out the window as they came to a stop light. "I don't know dad, I just don't."

"Well you should be happy," Mr. Lumperage turned and put his hand on his son's shoulder. "It is very hard to get noticed by major corporation and the accepted, but you and your friends did it."

"Yeah we did," Lelouch chuckled.

"And I want you to know how proud I am of you," he said smiling, "you showed how much talent you have in this field and you found great people to work with on it. You're a talented kid Lelouch and I'm happy you put it to great use."

Lelouch started to feel a lot better from what his dad told him. He always thought that his dad was a really cool guy and a good role model. His dad would always give him advice and guidance when certain things arised. He turned to his dad with a smile.

"Thanks dad, that means a lot."

"Sure thing, well I guess we're here," he said as they arrived at the café. "You have a good time and be wise when answering questions alright?"

"I will thanks dad," Lelouch said as he hopped out of the car. He watched as his dad drove away, and he turned to see his band mates standing there waiting for him.

"Hey guys, so this is the place," Lelouch said as he walked up to them and looked at the sign. It said Kyoto Cuisine.

"Yup, looks like it," Natsu said.

They walked inside and were seated at a table for six. As they made themselves comfortable, a waitress came by to take their orders.

"Could I get you five something to drink," she asked.

"Just some water for all of us, thank you" Simon responded.

"So what do we know so far about this manager guy," Lelouch asked.

"From I know so far, we're supposed to be meeting with a guy Gin assigned to us personally," Issei said looking at the card, "He's supposed to be a professional."

"Gin said he would be here soon, hopefully he's as good as he says," Ichigo said as the waitress arrived with their beverages. They all took a sip.

* * *

Outside an expensive red Lamborgini pulled up to the front of the cafe. A young man in his late 20's wearing a black suit and sunglasses opened the door. He had dirty, spikey blonde hair, and birthmarks on his cheeks that surprisingly looked like cat whiskers. He entered the café and looked around. Upon seeing the people he was looking for, he walked over to them.

"Excuse me," he said in his scratchy voice, "are you five the members of Soul Society."

The five members who were sitting casually immediately sat upright in their chairs upon seeing the guy they were meeting.

"Hehe, don't worry, none of you need to be formal, this is a causal meeting," he said as he took a seat at the table and took his glasses off. "Hey can you get an iced tea over here," he called out to he waitress, who quickly brought him on

"It's nice to meet you Mr. uhh," Issei said nervously, "Forgive me, but what is your name?"

"Uzumaki, but you five guys can refer to me as Naruto," he said as he took a sip of his drink. This was surprising, they always thought sophistication and formality was a necessity when dealing with serious business stuff like this but so far everyone they've met has been really casual. Gin and this guy Naruto were perfect examples of that.

"So, Naruto, you were the one who was assigned to direct us in getting known," Ichigo asked.

"That is correct, from this we're going to discuss that," he said sounding more business like, "Gin sent me your demo and I can tell you all are talented musicians with a great deal of potential."

"That's what Gin said to us the other day," Simon said to him.

"Yes, but establishing a fanbase is a very important step in the music industry. Without establishing it, the band will stay in an underground view. There are certain bands in the industry that took years to establish it."

"That sucks," Natsu exclaimed, "you're saying we have to spend several years trying to get a fanbase. We'll all be in college by the time we get this done."

"Now don't say that, I have several methods that I believe will be a sure fire way to get you guys noticed in only a short while, like two months or so."

"How so," Simon asked.

"The first is through social media."

"Like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram," Ichigo said clarifying his statements.

"Yes," Naruto said, "it's good to self promote yourselves that way and we give this suggestion to many of the people we make deals with. You can post videos of performing and photos introducing yourselves to your audience."

"Okay, I guess we can do that," Issei said with a nod. The other members nodded and smiled at him too.

"Now wait, there is more to it besides that," Naruto said stopping Issei where he was, "and that is performing for a crowd."

"So we have to go to a lot of venues," Lelouch asked.

"In a way yes, but I do know a place that can get that step down fairly fast," Naruto said.

"Where is that," they all asked.

"Come on," Naruto said getting up from his seat, he left a tip and some money for the waitress as they all got up. The other guys were confused as to why they were leaving to go some weird place with Naruto. Nevertheless they still followed him outside. Upon catching sight of his car their mouths dropped to the ground.

"Is that a Lamborgini," Natsu asked dumbfounded.

"Sure is, just got it recently," Naruto said as he got in the driver seat and put his sunglasses on, "very nice sports car if I do say so myself."

"Man you must be loaded," Issei said as he and the others got themselves seated in the car.

"Well music management makes a lot of money, but enough about that, let's get going," he said as he started the car and they all drove off.

* * *

After around twenty minutes of driving Naruto came to a stop. The whole ride there they were quiet. They just did not know what they were going to expect until they finally got there.

"We're here," Naruto said as he parked the car.

They all got out and right in front of them was a huge building. There was a sign at the top which was a blinking guitar that read _Tiburon_.

"Wow, this place is huge," Ichigo said in astonishment.

"This is _Tiburon_ , a restaurant and venue where many up and coming musicians who have gotten deals perform. I've managed a few bands that have performed here and I feel you will all be no exception," Naruto explained to them.

"It sounds cool, can we go inside," Simon asked turning to Naruto.

"That's why we're here isn't it, come on," Naruto said in response as he led them inside.

The interior of the restaurant looked very well done. Right now there were no people inside, most likely because it was closed during Sundays, according to the sign out front. Neat tables and chairs put together, several flat screen televisions on the walls, and a bar. What stood out the most inside the restaurant was a gigantic stage at the center. Issei saw it and assumed this was where the bands would go and perform during the nights.

"So I've set it up with the manager of the place, you will all be performing here starting next Friday night, and if you wish you can do this on your time off whether it is during the weekends or whenever you feel like it," Naruto said.

"It might seem kind of hard considering we're still in school," Issei said.

"That's what I'm going to try and work out. If you all have certain work to do for school then that's fine, but I still urge you to put as much time and effort into this as you all can. You have a deal now and you need to act on it."

"We understand Naruto," Lelouch said, "we'll take that into consideration."

Naruto and them left after that and as they were driving back to their houses, Naruto gave them some extra discussion, mostly on how to act when going out on stage and to not get discouraged if there's a screw up.

"Be active when on the stage," Naruto said giving them advice, "and you can mess up while live, it's only on record that you cannot mess up at all."

"Anything else we should consider," Issei asked.

"Well getting new equipment is a plus," he pointed out. He then handed them stacks of money.

"What's this for," Simon asked confused.

"What does it look like, it's cash for new gear," Naruto said, "it's recommended that you get new equipment and the company will give you cash to do so. So I gave you $5000 each for that. I suggest you go down to your local music store, pick up some equipment, and get it ready for use when you go do your venue and when you start recording the album."

"Cool," Natsu exclaimed, "thanks Naruto."

"No problem kid, but I also suggest new music be written before the gig," Naruto said.

"Wait, you're suggesting we each write something before we go do the venue," Lelouch asked in disbelief.

"That's exactly what I'm saying," Naruto said in monotone.

"But that's impossible," Issei shouted, "we take our time when writing, you can't just rush us into..."

"Didn't you make your demo within a week," Naruto asked interrupted them.

"Mmm-hmm," they all said.

"And isn't it a week until the first gig," he asked again.

"Mmm-hmm," they said again.

"Then you have plenty of time, you only need to do at least four or five songs, and you all individually write. So compose your tracks practice them a little and then head in, you'll be fine."

"This guy is one stubborn son of a bitch," Ichigo said to Issei quietly.

"I heard that."

* * *

Later that day, all of them went to Urahara's to pick up new gear. It was fairly easy because they had all considered updating for a long time, especially Issei who desperately wanted to get a new guitar. And considering Urahara was a good friend to all of them, he managed to get them hooked up.

Issei and Ichigo both got new guitars, Issei a PRS with twenty four frets and coil tapping, and Ichigo an Ibanez with a Floyd Rose (essential for his whammy effects). They also got some multi effect pedalboards so they wouldn't have to haul so many effects to the venue, especially since amplifiers were already there. It was a big relief for Issei as he got a guitar that was cool and new and he was finally able to play with ease.

Simon got himself a new Schecter bass and an acoustic guitar to use for the gigs. As much as he liked the Squire he had, he felt he needed to get something that allowed for more gain and was more suited for fast playing.

Natsu got an electric drum set so he could practice and record without making too much noise around the house. He also got some other percussion instruments like tubular bells, congos, glockenspiel, cowbells etc, because he wanted to add different sounds to the band repertoire.

Lelouch got himself a new advanced keyboard work station with over thousands of sampled sounds (organ, strings, choir, orchestra, etc.) as well as some new analog synthesizers to use on stage.

They were all ready to take that stage next Friday, except for writing and practicing new songs. That was going to really take a lot of time to accomplish.

"Thanks for the help Urahara you're the best," Ichigo said giving him a fist pound on the way out.

"No problem dudes," he said.

Issei stayed behind for a second. He still had one question to ask Urahara on the way out.

"Urahara I have to ask you a favor."

"Sure thing Issei what is it?"

Issei then quietly whispered something into his ear.

* * *

The guys spent most of the week writing new material and then rehearsing it. It wasn't that big of a stretch at all because this week the teachers were low on tests and assignments which gave Soul Society enough time to practice with their music.

They didn't feel as rushed as they were before when Naruto first told them what they had to do, but it still felt like more time would've been needed before they got to do the shows at the Tiburon restaurant.

It wasn't a fast process to write music as it took much consideration and time to think of, but luckily since these guys did their own songs individually and then presented them to each other to add certain stuff to, it made the process go much faster and smoother.

Friday night, they met up at Issei's to have some more practice before they left. The doorbell rang around 5:30, it was Naruto who had come to pick them up. Once they gathered all their equipment, they went out to Naruto's car as he drove them to the place

"This is gonna be it," Issei said to himself "our first gig."

He was kind of nervous, he had done shows before with piano recitals and some school shows, but never something as major as this. He wondered how he'd feel once they were out in stadiums and large concert halls.

 **Well that's this chapter taken care of. Next is gonna be the first gig at the Tiburon restaurant. Also thanks to Mexican ninja96 for helping me decide on the name of the club (thanks very much dude). Anyway hope you guys enjoyed the chapter and I'll see you next time.**


	6. Chapter 6: The First Performance

**Hey everybody, hope you're all doing well and welcome to the sixth chapter. I've been hoping to get to this for a really long time and this is where I'm finally going to have the interactive song thing where they all sing together. It has taken a lot of time to make this chapter and a lot of songs I had to choose from for this particular chapter. The songs that I selected from are both fairly underrated songs in my opinion or some really good ones. I didn't want to start using the really great ones until later on. Anyway I hope you guys enjoy and read on.**

 **First Song:** **watch?v=8GeZ7fd_90A**

 **Second Song:** **watch?v=OCwigPhpiXs**

 **Third Song:** **watch?v=eT7GaEAuLf0**

 **Interlude:** **/WxuYIiGqXWk**

 **Fourth Song:** **watch?v=s86K-p089R8**

 **Chapter 6: The First Performance**

By 7:30 that Friday evening, the Tiburon restaurant and venue was packed with so many people who had come all over from Karakura City to many other places in Japan to see the newly signed groups as they performed for them.

Ever since its founding in the late 90's, the Tiburon gave very great musicians the chance to make something of themselves and even now it was still keeping at it with giving those people that chance.

At that very moment, Soul Society was backstage getting set and warming up for their show which would be going on in about ten minutes.

Issei, Ichigo, Simon, Lelouch, and Natsu were told fairly early on by the manager, whom they had met during the week, that they did not need to haul so much equipment with them because the manager had equipment ready for them, particularly amplifers, keyboards, a grand piano, and a drum set, which lessened the burden for all of them. All they really needed was their instruments, effects, and of course their list of songs they planned to perform.

Issei stood behind the curtains on the stage, he was looking at the audience as they sat in their seats waiting for them to come on. Right now there was a different rock band known as Las Noches playing. Issei had to admit, the band was very good and were putting their best into their performance.

He didn't feel as nervous as he had before they first arrived there an hour ago, he was actually feeling rather excited. This was going to be their first major performance in front of so many people. Nothing like being in community theater or school plays. He wondered though, would this be like it would in a huge concert hall or stadium? Probably not.

"This is going to be great," Issei said with excitement as he got his brand new guitar and plugged it into the Marshall cabinet right behind him and into his brand new pedalboard that Urahara had given to him the previous week.

"You got that right," Simon said as he got his bass ready, "we practiced very hard so let's get out there and rock out. I can't wait to do that one bass solo I worked very hard on."

"Do we all have the songs we decided to do memorized, It might get ugly if we forget while we're on there" Natsu asked them as he held drum sticks in his hands.

"Yeah," they all said at the same time.

"Just in case we forgot, I brought sheets of paper with the lyrics and chords written on them," Lelouch said as he pulled up a huge stack of paper from his bag.

"I don't think that'll be necessary," Ichigo said nervously, a little weirded out by that.

"Alright guys, this your big chance to shine, so don't blow it," Naruto said to them sternly.

"We're not in this for the spotlight Naruto," Ichigo said seriously.

"That's right, we're all in this for our music," Lelouch said in a way that came off as kind of preachy to everybody.

"Alright enough with the preaching talk it's very dated, anyway the manager is about to call your name so get yourselves behind the curtain right now."

They all nodded at Naruto and got ready as the last band finished their song. Once they were finished the curtain closed and the band walked off to put away their equipment. Yelling and applause from the audience could be heard in the background.

"Break a leg out there little dudes," the singer in the band said to them giving them a thumbs up. They all responded with the same thumbs up.

They went into the spot where they were going to perform as the curtain was closed. This was finally it, no turning back now.

"Remember, you have to play at least four to five songs, and I advise you to be charismatic and lively out there," Naruto whispered to them, so as not to make any noise that the audience would hear.

"We got it Naruto," Issei said to him getting a little annoyed, "it's not like we haven't done stuff like this before."

"Well I haven't," Natsu said jumping in out of nowhere.

"Me neither," Lelouch said jumping in right behind Natsu.

"Oh boy," Naruto said as he got nervous, "none of you had formal performances?"

"Well Ichigo and I obviously did," Issei said, "We used to do community theater together."

"Yeah and I played at local festivals and talent shows," Simon said.

"Well, it may not be hard," Naruto said, "just try to have fun out there."

"That's what music is supposed to be isn't it," Issei asked him.

"For some yes, but for others...ehh not so much."

Naruto looked away with hiding how nervous he was. Messing up was one thing, but he certainly didn't want to expose the band to humiliation. That would be ugly.

* * *

The manager of the Tiburon then came onto the stage as the band finished the last song. He looked like he was in his mid fifties and was wearing a black suit. He was also overweight and had a huge beard on his face.

"Groovy, kudos to Las Noches for their excellent performance" he said as he shook hands with the previous group. "So I see we have a lot of rock and rollers in the house tonight huh?"

In response to the question the audience shouted out with a large "YEAAAHHH"

"Did you all come to see some good music," he asked the audience.

"YEEAAHH!"

"I can't hear you, DID YOU COME HERE TO SEE SOME GOOD MUSIC!" he yelled out even louder.

"YYYEEEEAAAAAHHHHH!" the audience yelled even louder.

"Well we have a great treat for you, up next is a band of very talented teenagers that recently got themselves a record deal from Espada," he explained to the audience, "I myself find them to be a great group and I'm sure you'll love them too, so without further ado, please welcome, from the small town of Karakura Town, very redundant but whatever, SOUL SOCIETY!"

The audience then cheered as the curtains parted, revealing the band standing right there. The band waved to the audience as they were cheering. Hearing those cheers seemed to make them even more confident then before and now they definitely felt ready to give this audience a great show. As they turned on the amplifiers and hooked up the instrument, Issei went over to his microphone and spoke.

"Hello," he shouted out, "my name's Issei Hyoudou, are you people all here to have a fun time tonight?" he said with the most charisma he'd ever had in his voice.

"YEEAAHH" The audience gave their yell of agreement to Issei.

"I can't here you, ARE YOU ALL HERE TO HAVE A GOOD TIME TONIGHT," he screamed out louder like the manager had done before.

"YYYEEEEEAAAAAAHHHHHH!"

"Alright then. We're going to give you all we got tonight and we promise you'll all be entertained. Hope you guys all like this one," he said rolled the volume up on his guitar. He motioned to his members and gave the countdown, "1, 2, 3, 4"

The music then started as Issei led them on the opening riff. Ichigo followed right behind him and eventually, the others joined in providing the extra music. This went on for a couple of measures that eventually led into the first verse they took a second as Issei went over to his microphone and began to sing.

 **(First song starts here)**

 **Issei** : _Oh, tonight began with anything. Shaft of a light. A warm breath and a scream. Ah yeah, tamper if you like between the doors. Oh yeah. Huh. Huh. Oh, can't expect to go out, to go out with anything, anything more._

 **Issei, Ichigo, Lelouch, Simon** : _Oh reach the door. A breath and a... Oh reach the door. And a la la la la yeah. Life ain't what it's worth. A breath and a... Oh reach the door._

 **Issei** : _All these reaching hands out grabbing things. Grabbing me. Day in day out accumulating. Ah yeah. Whoa. I suggest you step out on your porch. Oh yeah. Huh. huh. Huh huh, yeah. Run away my son. See it all. Oh see the world._

 **Issei, Ichigo, Lelouch, Simon** : _Oh reach the door. A breath and a... Oh reach the door. And a la la la la yeah. Life ain't what it's worth. A breath and a... Oh reach the door._

 **Issei:** _Come. Here it comes. There it goes. When it comes. Where it goes. Where it comes. Can't see through the faith. Woah. Ooh. Come. Here it comes. There it goes. Grasp what you can. Don't you know there's something inside your head, yeah._

 **Issei** : _Oh, if I knew where it was I would take you there but there's much more than this. Ooh. Whoa, much more than this. Woh see the world. Much more than...Oh, much more than. WHY?!_

Issei then did his own guitar solo. While it was simple, it was definitely enjoyable. He made it so it would be easy to improvise and he could add his own flare as well as some nice tricks to it. He kept playing as the band was closing the song. Eventually he finished the solo.

The audience cheered as the song ended. They never expected an audience would go this crazy, especially since it was in a restaurant in a city, not a huge stadium. Issei smiled at this and took a bow to the audience.

"Thank you," he said to them. He walked over to Ichigo and whispered to him, "knock them dead."

Ichigo turned the gain up on his guitar and hit the first power chord. He then started shredding on the guitar as fast as he did. All the years of playing payed off as he let it all out on the fretboard while running around wildly on the stage. He divebombed with the whammy bar and speed picked the notes. Finally he did a tapping solo for about forty-five seconds and finished it off with a divebomb. The audience let out screams and cheers at Ichigo's solo as he went up to microphone.

"GOOD EVENING TIBURON," he screamed out to them, "I'm Ichigo Kurosaki, we're very glad to be here tonight. We got some kick ass rock and roll for you all, and we hope you enjoy this one."

 **(Second song)**

Ichigo started playing the opening riff on guitar again. The band started playing again and Ichigo began to sing.

 **Ichigo:** _Girl, you really got me now, you got me so I don't know what I'm doing. Girl you really got me now, you got me so I can't sleep at night. (Guitar riff)_

 **Issei** , **Simon** : _GIRL_

 **Ichigo** : _You really got me, you got me so I don't know what I doing_

 **Issei, Simon** : _OH YEAH_

 **Ichigo** : _You really got me now, you got me so I can't sleep at night._

 **Issei, Simon, Lelouch** : _You really got me, You really got me._

 **Ichigo** : _Please, don't ever let me be, I only want to be by your side. (guitar riff) Please don't ever let me be, I only want to be by your side._

 **Issei, Simon** : _GIRL_

 **Ichigo** : _You really got me now. You got so I don't know where I'm going_

 **Issei, Simon:** _OH YEAH_

 **Ichigo** : _You really got me now, you got me so I can't sleep at night._

 **Issei, Simon, Lelouch** : _You really got me, you really got me_

 **Ichigo** : _Oh no no_

Next came his guitar solo. While shorter than the one he did that opened the song it was still surprisingly fast. He used the signature tapping and also a technique called "killswitch" that Issei mostly used on the guitar. Issei noticed him using that trick for a brief second and smirked evilly. "I think I'm going to have to kill him later, but for now I digress." The solo finished fairly quickly and they all went to their microphones, letting off background noise while Ichigo began to sing again.

 **Ichigo** : _Girl, you really got me now, you got me so I don't know where I'm going. WOAH. Girl you really got me now (quieter) you got me so I can't sleep at night. YEEEAAAHHH!_

 **Issei, Simon** : _GIRL_

 **Ichigo** : _You really got me now. You got so I don't know where I'm going_

 **Issei, Simon** : _OH YEAH_

 **Ichigo** : _You really got me now, you got me so I can't sleep at night._

 **Issei, Simon, Lelouch** : _You really got me, You really got me._

 **Ichigo** : _OH, OH, OH_

The song ended, and again there was nothing but thunderous cheer from the audience. This was definitely beginning to grow greater with each passing second. Simon came up and hit some loud notes on the bass before speaking into microphone.

"Hey what's up," he said with an exuberant tone, "I'm Simon, thank you all for being such a great audience." Again the audience responded with simple cheers. He hit some more notes before signaling to Natsu to start them up. The music began and Simon began to sing his portion.

 **(Third Song)**

 **Simon** : _I can tell, seen before. Know the way. I know the law. I can't believe. can't obey, can't agree with all the things that they say._

 _Oh no, don't ask me why. I can't go on with all the filthy white lies._

 _Stay Clean_

 _Stay Clean_

 _Stay Clean_

 _Stay Clean_

Simon made his voice sound very deep and gravelly to create a tough feel for the song. As a baritone, he would use the guttural bass voice often, even though he could go up considerably high too. Since the song did not need the use of keyboards, Lelouch took a break from playing and clapped along. He didn't mind if he wasn't playing just as long as he could still hear something fun. Issei started playing with the wah-wah effect on his pedalboard as Simon began to sing again.

 **Simon** : _Don't you know, all the time._ _You got yours and you know that I'll have mine._ _Grab a hold, don't let go._

 _Don't let them rob you of the only way you know._ _Oh no, no one else._ _Got the right to make you sorry for yourself._

 _Stay clean_

 _Stay clean_

 _Stay clean_

 _Stay clean_

 _Alright_

Then came the solo on the bass. Simon turned up the overdrive on the amplifier and began to go at the notes with his pick. To the audience and the other members it didn't even seem like Simon was playing bass, it looked like he was playing straight up lead guitar. Ichigo saw this and began to think of what would've happened if Simon played electric guitar, he probably would've been undoubtedly fantastic.

 **Simon** : _So you see, the only proof. Of what you are is in the way you hear the truth. Don't be scared, live to win. Although they're_ _always gonna tell you it's a sin_

 _In the end, you're on your own._

 _And there is no one that can stop you being alone._

 _Stay clean_

 _Stay clean_

 _Stay clean_

 _Stay clean_

The song faded out and once again the audience applauded them. Simon gave them a thumbs up before he took a deep breath and said the next thing.

"Give it up for, Natsu Dragneel, on drums," he said as he pointed over to Natsu.

( **Interlude** )

After that introduction, it was Natsu's turn to have some fun. He decided to save his written songs for when they went to record the major stuff, and for right now he was just going to drum along and have a good time.

What followed next was a long set of amazing drum skills on a simple four piece set. Natsu had so much energy as he banged those sticks on the drums, giving it everything he got.

The audience just watched in astonishment as he kept it up. It was amazing that all of this epic ability was coming from a fifteen year old. Natsu just kept going and going never once slowing down or stopping. Eventually he slowed it down and banged the final notes with his sticks.

The audience started wailing with cheers and applauds after he finished his interlude. Natsu got up for a second to take a sip of his water. He smiled as he walked over to the microphone. He gave the audience a wave and spoke.

"Thank you guys," Natsu said simply as he walked back to his drum set. As he was walking back all the other guys gave him high fives, fist pounds, and a pat on the back. While that was fun it was now Lelouch's turn to rock out.

"Well, this is the last song of the evening," Lelouch said as he adjusted his microphone. The audience responded with whines and groans. "Now don't be like that, we had a good show so far and after all we want to go out with a bang don't we?"

( **Fourth song starts here** )

The audience gave a couple claps as Lelouch got himself ready. He then began to play his song. He had his keyboard at a synth lead setting. As he played Issei and Ichigo backed him up with some riffs.

 **Lelouch** : _On the street, where you live, girls talk about their social lives. They're made of lipstick, plastic, paint, a look of stable in their eyes._

(Whole band comes in)

 **Lelouch, Issei, Simon:** _All your life_

 **Lelouch, Issei** : _All your life all you've asked is. When is your Daddy gonna talk to you. But you were living in another world. Tryin' to get a message through._

 **Lelouch** : _No one heard a single word you said. They should have seen it in your eyes. What was going around your head._

 **Lelouch, Simon, Issei, Ichigo:** _Ooh, she's a little runaway. Daddy's girl learned fast. All those things he couldn't say. Ooooh_

 **Lelouch** : _She's_ _a little runaway_.

 **Lelouch, Issei:** _A different line every night. Guaranteed to blow your mind. I see you out on the streets. Call me for a wild time. So you sit home alone 'cause there's nothing left that you can do. There's only pictures hung in the shadows left there to look at you._

 **Lelouch** : _You know she likes the lights at nights on the neon Broadway signs. She don't really mind, it's only love she hoped to find._

 **Lelouch, Simon, Issei, Ichigo:** _Ooh, she's a little runaway. Daddy's girl learned fast. All those things he couldn't say. Ooooh. She's a little runaway._

Yet again came another guitar solo. This time it was shared between both Issei and Ichigo. They switched for every couple of measures each adding their own spice in how they played. Lelouch looked on with a smile as he saw them play.

 **Lelouch** : _No one heard a single word she said. They should have seen it in your eyes. What was going around your head._

 **Lelouch, Simon, Issei, Ichigo:** _Ooh, she's a little runaway. Daddy's girl learned fast. All those things he couldn't say_

 _Ooh, she's a little runaway. Daddy's girl learned fast. Now she works the night away_

 _Ooh, she's a little runaway. Daddy's girl learned fast. All those things he couldn't say_

 _Ooh, she's a little runaway. Daddy's girl learned fast. Now she works the night away._

The song finally ended and the Tiburon crowd erupted into thunderous cheer, even louder than before. Each member put their instruments to the side, walked together and all gave a bow to the audience. They then gave them save waves as they walked off the stage, collecting their instruments.

"Wow," the manager said, "I don't think I've seen so much talent from a group of musicians as young as these."

The other guys were backstage packing up as the manger gave them their adieu. Naruto then rushed up to them with an ectstatic look on his face.

"GUYS, THAT WAS AMAZING, YOU NAILED IT," he shouted to them.

"Yeah we really did," Ichigo said in response, a little out of breath from all the singing.

"Hey you stole my stutter trick by the way," Issei said turning to him with an annoyed looked and speaking with a serious tone.

Ichigo gave him a nerdy smile and just shrugged his shoulders, "I'm sowwy, I didnt mean it," he said like a toddler. Issei could only laugh in response to his his childhood friend.

"But yeah that was great, we really put our best into it," Natsu said.

"Especially your drumming," Simon said giving Natsu a fist pound.

"Think you guys can do this now," Naruto asked them.

"Oh yeah, you bet we will," Lelouch said.

"Excellent," he then pulled them together and put his hands on their shoulders, "you know guys, I bet you'll make it to the top before you know it."

 **Wow that was a lot. Sorry for late update, I really had to put a lot into making this chapter by setting up everything. But this is the first interactive chapter and I'm glad I got it out. Phew, it was a killer though. But I hope you guys enjoyed it. Also other good news is my group and I are getting to perform at a big venue next month. AWESOME**

 **Breath is owned by Pearl Jam**

 **Eruption/You Really Got Me is owned by Van Halen**

 **Stay Clean owned by Motörhead (also RIP to the late Lemmy Kilminster)**

 **Runaway owned by Bon Jovi**

 **Videos above owned by TheGargantuan, iOnlyUseBigGun, MotörheadBand, Ash Aiyer, and BonJoviVEVO.**


	7. Chapter 7: ProsCons of Getting Noticed

**Well, last chapter was really something I put a lot into. Hopefully for this one I won't need to do so much with the songs. So in this chapter, the guys get more noticed by the public but at the same time also come across some slight difficulties in the path. This chapter has a scene I've been planning on for a while now that occurs around the middle. Anyway read on guys.**

 **( /xfWPqRtozh0)**

 **Chapter 7: The Pros and Cons of Getting Noticed**

Things have been going great for a while. Ever since that first performance at the Tiburon, Soul Society kept up their performing every single weekend and any weekday that they were able to. Each time they'd come up with a couple new songs or do covers of their favorite bands. The crowds and the applause really gave them a boost in their confidence and they were sure there was going to be much in store.

Besides doing performances, they also began to advertise themselves on social media. They had profiles on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, where they introduced each other and put in videos of their work, mostly with covered songs and or videos of their skills.

They also had videos of comedic stints they'd do at each other's houses in the middle of jam sessions. Pretty much they'd do jokes and have parodies. They made these as a way to let off a humorous tone to their audience and to have fun.

Word had gotten out around the school about their deal and several students there would show up to the Tiburon every weekend to see them perform. Not just from Kuoh Academy, but from Karakura High, and Natsu and Lelouch's school.

Not only that, but their classmates would be constantly coming up to them giving them praise for their performances. It was very cool that they had gotten this, but it could get very annoying as well. Sometimes the attention would be getting in the way a lot. But what are you gonna do?

Issei got into school on Monday morning, and almost immediately was greeted with waves and compliments by all his classmates, especially the girls. If there's one thing that Issei learned from both TV and Urahara, it was that chicks love rock stars. Urahara told him that he had over five hundred girlfriends when he was performing as Tensai. Issei knew he was just exaggerating but he probably did get a huge bunch of fan girls.

"Getting noticed is a lot more fun than I thought," he said to himself before turning and seeing Simon chatting with a bunch of girls. He also noticed they all were giving him goo goo eyes. He must've been a real Casanova when it came to the ladies. Oh how he envied him.

"Well it seems someone's gotten busy."

Rias had appeared right behind him out of nowhere. Issei turned and let out a slight gasp, a little startled that she had snuck up right behind him without warning.

"Oh sorry, did I startle you," she asked innocently with a smile.

"Yeah you kind of did there, don't do that," Issei responded back to her. Rias just shrugged in response.

"So I heard a lot about your performances downtown, you really have made a name for yourself haven't you?"

"Well not just me, but Ichigo, Simon, Lelouch and Natsu as well. We just wanted to do something like this and we're glad we did. Hell we didn't expect we'd have this chance to be able to get a deal with a big name company like Espada. We were expecting to get in by some indie label, which would've been cool as well."

"That is true, chances like that don't come around very often," Rias agreed with him, "it is a huge commitment though isn't it?"

"Unfortunately it is," Issei said feeling down, "Rias, I don't know if I'll be able to do the shows again. I'd like to but it would be complicated to pull off."

"Hey, it's cool," Rias said quickly.

"Really?"

"Of course, I mean there's plenty of musicians and actors at Kuoh Academy. You have a bigger commitment now and I stay stick with it. Besides I..."

"OH MY GOSH, THERE HE IS!"

Issei looked and saw so many girls running up to him. He didn't have anytime to react and instantly found himself in the middle of a giant pit of girls. They kept asking him questions and we're giving him compliments as well. He tried to find his way out but he couldn't push through. He managed to get a glimpse and saw that Rias was walking away.

"Rias wait," he called out.

"It's okay," she called back, "you take care of that and I'll talk to you later."

"Okay, maybe getting noticed isn't as great as I built it up to be," he thought to himself, "oh well, I guess I'll have to deal," he then managed to find his way out of the pit of girls and made his way to the classroom.

* * *

Things fared a little better for Ichigo at school. He was getting asked a lot of questions but wasn't getting thrown into a giant pit. Nonetheless it was a large amount of unwanted attention for him.

Right now he was standing in the hallway talking to a lot of students. They were pushing so many questions at him. It was starting to make him very uncomfortable.

"So will you perform often?"

"I hope so."

"Do you write music?"

"Yes I certainly do."

"Are you the leader of the group?"

"I wouldn't really say that."

"Are you going to get famous?"

"Geez this is getting out of hand," Ichigo thought to himself, "I got to get out of this, but I can't just run away or I'll look like a total jerk."

Luckily his salvation came right by him. Orihime had been walking through the halls and noticed the line of people crowded by Ichigo. She had heard about the group he was in getting a lot of attention, but due to her commitments she hadn't gone to the Tiburon to see them. Seeing the nervous look on his face, she decided to take action. She walked up the line and grabbed his shoulder.

"Alright everybody," she said like a businesswoman, "Mr. Kurosaki has other matters to attend to. He does not need all of this unwanted attention." She then began to pull him away from all this.

"Oh and who are you," one girl asked in a very rude tone, "are you his manager or something?"

"Indeed I am," Orihime said with a smug tone and smirk as she continued to pull him away. The line of people decided to move away and went to their classes.

"Thanks Orihime, for getting me out of there," Ichigo said to her.

"It gets very annoying when people crowd around you, doesn't it?"

"You don't know the half of it," he mumbled.

"Actually I do," she said, "whenever I do a recital I'm always bombarded with questions. It gets very irritating, especially when they keep asking the same questions over and over. Luckily Sora gets me out of there before that happens."

"For a piano prodigy I would expect that," Ichigo said simply.

"Don't refer to me as that," she said glaring at him.

"Sorry."

While Orihime was indeed a prodigy, she did not like being referred to as that by anyone. She felt that the word made her seem arrogant and considering her disdain for people like that, she didn't want anything to associate herself with them. She made this clear around her friends who did respect that but if they slipped it by accident she would get annoyed. She simply wanted to be referred to as a person who plays music, nothing more.

"But anyway, I heard about your band and I saw a lot of the stuff on Facebook, I wanted to say congratulations."

"Thanks, it was a lot of work but we got it down," he said, "have you come to see any of our shows?"

"No, it's been hard because I have too many commitments," she sighed.

"Hey it's cool, you got your work to do that's fine," he said reassuringly, "but if you get the chance, come down and see us, it'd be fun."

"I'll work it out somehow," she said.

"Cool, see ya," Ichigo said as he walked away.

"You too," she said as she walked away as well.

* * *

On a Wednesday night, Soul Society met at Natsu's house to have some upcoming discussion. They decided to take a break from practicing and instead enjoy themselves a little by watching TV, or playing video games.

They sat in Natsu's living room. Natsu and Simon were playing a racing game on Natsu's Xbox. He had gotten the game recently and was playing it non stop, not as much as the drums though.

"Oh come on I'm almost there," Natsu yelled as he kept mashing buttons on the controller.

"Comeomcomeoncomeoncomeon I gota win this," Simon yelled out in a high pitched voice as he stood up on his knees furiously hitting the buttons.

Issei, Ichigo, and Lelouch sat on chairs, eating pizza and watching them. Actually Lelouch was on his laptop making some adjustments to their Facebook page.

Simon and Natsu neared the finished line in the game both side by side, but in the last second Simon slammed his car against Natsu's and finished in first place. Natsu's car overturned and was passed by the other ones finishing in last place. Watching his loss on the TV was mortifying.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOO," Natsu wailed out as he ran up and clutched the sides of the TV

"YEESS I DID IT, I WON," Simon screeched in victory.

Ichigo, Lelouch, and Issei started laughing hysterically at Natsu's predicament. The way he was screaming like a little kid was downright hilarious.

"I WAS SO CLOSE," Natsu yelled out, he ran over to Simon and began to whack at him as Simon covered himself while laughing, "YOU CHEATER, YOU PUSHED ME OFF!"

"Hahaha, can't help being a sore loser can you," Simon playfully taunted him.

"YOU CHEATING BASTARD, TAKE THIS AND THAT AND MORE OF THIS!"

"Woah Natsu calm down," Issei said pulling him off Simon, "it's just a game for crying out loud."

He let out a sigh, "I know, damn I take these things way too seriously."

"Yeah but doesn't everybody. I rant out whenever I lose a match to Issei or my kid sisters. That's embarrassing enough," Ichigo said as he took another bite of pizza.

"I know how that feels, Nunnally beats me at Mario Kart every time," Lelouch said while still looking at his laptop. "Hey do you guys want me to upload that funny video we made earlier?"

"Which one," Simon asked.

"The one where Issei freaks out that R.E.M. disbanded and he runs around the neighborhood screaming."

"Oh yeah and then I reassure him he's still got Nirvana, but he realizes they're gone too and goes crazy again," Ichigo asked remembering the skit they filmed.

"Yeah that's it," Lelouch said.

"Yeah post that, it'll be hilarious," Issei said.

"Gotcha," Lelouch said as he went back to his laptop.

Natsu still sat on the floor lamenting his loss at the racing game.

"Oh come on it was one loss Natsu," Simon said, "get over it."

'Whats it look like I'm trying to do," Natsu said in a depressed tone,

"How about we watch some TV instead, we can watch the Breaking Bad marathon coming on in a minute," Ichigo suggested.

"Okay," Natsu said, suddenly getting very happy. Issei who had gotten up to change the channel got a little weirded out by that, but he decided to disregard it and switch the TV. As he switched from the gaming input to cable the TV was on the news right now.

 _In other recent news a new rock band by the name of Soul Society has been getting large notice around Karakura Town_.

Issei was about to change the channel when he heard that first line from the news man. "They're talking about us," Issei said aloud.

"Turn it up," Ichigo said motioning to Simon to turn up the volume. They listened clearly to the announcer while clips of their performances were being shown on the TV.

 _At Karakura City's Tiburon venue_ _where many up and coming bands perform, one band has frequented the place for a while and has grown a small fanbase as a result of it. The bands name is Soul Society, a rock band made up of five members Karakura Town. Since last month they've frequented the local Tiburon bar and grill and have given audiences a show to remember. We've had a chance to talk to their manager from Espada, Naruto Uzumaki._

"Oh boy, let's hope this goes well," Simon said.

"If he makes us look stupid, then I'm coming after him," Lelouch said threateningly. All the other guys looked at him with scared faces. He looked at them a little confused, "what, I was just joking?"

Naruto was on the TV standing next to an attractive brunnete news woman. Judging from the scenery, it looked liked he was near the Tiburon right now.

 _"So Mr. Uzumaki how do you feel about this group getting much publicity?"_

 _"I think it's a very exciting process for these guys, they have worked very hard to get to this point and they love doing what they do so it really paid off."_

"Well he does have that right," Natsu said. He was immediately shushed by the other guys. They turned back and continued to watch the TV

 _"So how did this start?"_

 _"The four members had a demo sent in and the CEO of Espada Gin Ichimaru really enjoyed it. After that he contacted me and had me give the guys a few pointers and I suggested performing at the Tiburon. So far they've been going very good and they really love it."_

 _"So what's their plan from here on in."_

 _"They have plans to record a debut album soon, but we wanted to make sure they had a sort of following to do it. Seeing as how it's getting to that point now, it won't be long until getting to make that album comes."_

 _"Well that's all we have now, thank you Mr. Uzumaki."_

 _"Oh please it's Naruto."_

"Well at least he's still casual towards the end," Issei said with a chuckle.

"Yeah," Ichigo said, "but still were being talked about on TV, this is friggin awesome."

"I didn't think it'd take this long to get noticed," Simon said astonished.

"Me neither, but we're this close to recording an album," Lelouch said, "wonder how that'd go out."

"Write, go in, play, sing, record, and mix," Ichigo said, "that's pretty much it. I always did want to learn about mixing and stuff."

"I hear it's a long process," Issei said, "but yeah it is very cool."

"Considering I can't sing, it's more like that," Natsu said.

"You know man, I honestly thing anybody can sing as long as you try," Lelouch said, "why don't you give it a try for a second?"

Natsu's face turned pale at that suggestion, "oh no you do not want to..."

"Come on Natsu, give it a try," Simon said.

"It's not that hard, just try it once," Ichigo said.

"Who knows you might like it," Issei suggested.

Natsu just groaned at their urging. He really didn't want to do this but considering their urging, there was no turning back here, "all right," just then he thought of something he could do to make them stop urging him. He took a deep breath and then...

"LALALALALALALALALALALALALA!"

What followed was probably the most horrendous of notes ever uttered. Purposely uttered to be more specific. Natsu just sang it out like a banshee and didn't care how bad it was, but if it would show them how bad of a singer he was then it was worth it. Eventually he stopped.

"So how's that for you guys," he said with his eyes closed before opening them.

Upon opening his eyes, he looked down on the floor and saw his bandmates were lying face up, their eyes pale and wide and their mouths wide open. He had screamed so loud with his terrible singing that he pretty much knocked them unconscious

"Was it something I said?"

* * *

They had another performance at the Tiburon on Saturday night. It was the same old crowd, same old cheers and applause. Nonetheless it was still enjoyable.

"Okay last song for the evening guys," Issei announced giving a thumbs up.

(Start)

Issei started playing the guitar for the rhythm. After some time of this Issei's singing started.

 **Issei** : I get the same old dreams, same time every night, fall to the ground and I wake up. So I get out of bed, put on my shoes and in my head, thoughts fly back to the breakup. These four walls are closing. Look at the things you put me in.

 **Issei, Lelouch, Ichigo, Simon** : Since you been gone, since you been gone, I'm out of my head can't take it. Could I be wrong but since you been gone, you cast a spell so break. Ohhh, woahh, Ohhh. Since you been gone.

 **Ichigo** : So in the night I stand, beneath the backstreet light. I read the words that you sent to me. So I take the afternoon, the nighttime comes around too soon. You can't know what you mean to me. Your poison letter, your telegram, just goes to show you don't give a damn.

 **Issei, Lelouch, Ichigo, Simon** : Since you been gone, since you been gone, I'm out of my head can't take it. Could I be wrong but since you been gone, you cast a spell so break. Ohhh, woahh, Ohhh. Since you been gone.

Another guitar solo was done, this time harmonized by Issei and Ichigo. As they played Lelouch sang over them.

 **Lelouch** : If you will come back, baby you know you'll never go wrong.

 **Issei, Lelouch, Ichigo, Simon** : Since you been gone, since you been gone, I'm out of my head can't take it. Could I be wrong but since you been gone, you cast a spell so break. Ohhh, woahh, Ohhh. Since you been gone.

As the song finished up, they just kept on playing and having fun. The breakdown hit and once again they got the same amount of applause. They took their usual bow and walked off.

"Thank you all, goodnight," Simon said to them in the microphone.

"Great job guys," Naruto said, "you really killed em."

"Thanks Naruto," they all said.

"Hey I'm gonna go talk to the manager, why don't you guys go out and put your stuff away in the car, I'll be out in a minute."

They all nodded and stepped outside hauling their gig bags containing their equipment. All the while chatting about their performance tonight.

"Hey great job on that solo Ichigo," Lelouch said.

"Years of practicing pays off," Ichigo responded.

"Yeah, but you did great too Issei," Simon said to him.

"Yeah but I'm not as great as Ichigo is, it's still fun though," Issei said thinking about his ability to play.

"Well look what we have here."

The five looked and saw a figure standing by the side of the building. It was a well built man in his mid-20's with blonde hair, and a scar on his face. He wore a smirk and was kneeling against the wall. Issei didn't know who it was but recognized him immediately.

"Riser," Issei uttered.

"If it isn't my former student," he said with an arrogant tone.

The other members were confused as to why this guy was here, except Ichigo.

"Who is this guy," Lelouch asked.

"That's Issei's former instructor, Riser Phoenix," Ichigo whispered, "this guy is a total jerk."

"He's the guy Issei was talking about in the store right," Simon asked.

"Yep, he is."

Issei stood face to face with his former teacher. A look of defiance and anger in his eyes. He thought he was finally rid of this guy and he shows up here.

"Why are you here," Issei demanded to know.

"Just checking up and seeing how you're doing," Riser said in a cool manner, "and you're still as half assed as ever."

"No thanks to you," Issei said coldly, "you made my life a living hell, constantly putting me down and not letting me express myself."

"I tried to teach you," Riser interjected, "but you had no talent. You would never get good and you're still not good. You're sloppy."

"Shut up," Ichigo snapped coming up next to Issei and facing Riser. Ichigo looked pissed off now. Issei had told him many times about this guy but never expected him to be this degrading.

"This guy is a talented person at guitar and piano. He worked very hard and he's better than anyone I know. All you did was just put him down and make him feel like nothing, that's not what music is supposed to be."

"Students need discipline to get proficient. I was teaching him the right way. Music is supposed to be hard and discipline is the way to achieve it," Riser declared.

"That is completely wrong," Simon interjected.

"Music isn't supposed to be completely hard," Lelouch said, "it may seem hard but you can make it less hard by making it fun and enjoyable, not vindictive and tedious."

"You know what else, you're all half assed," Riser said to them, "you put yourself in with this ruffian rock music, instead of being involved with sophisticated and dignified music, you're nothing but children and low life's who will never make anything of themselves.

His tone was so arrogant and snobbish, it was making all of them angry. Putting down them and the music they enjoyed, this was going way too far. Issei and Ichigo had the biggest urge to slug him right here.

"We're not half assed, you are," Natsu yelled, "at least we're getting a deal."

"What," Riser asked shocked.

"That's right," Issei said smirking, "we got a deal with Espada to write and record an album. We made an effort and we're going places, while your stuck in a broken down music shop on the corner of a highway."

At this point Riser was furious. His eyes had gone wide and serious with rage. He grabbed Issei by the collar of his shirt and pulled him face to face with him. Issei looked him straight in the face, not scared at all and instead defiant.

"You don't deserve this, I worked harder than you ever did. You little bastards don't deserve what I do," he yelled. He clenched his hand into a fist and got ready to punch Issei.

"Let him go."

They all turned and saw a silhouette in the darkness stepping forward. It was Urahara standing there with a serious look, which was much unexpected from him as he was mostly funny and comical.

"Urahara," Riser said as he let go of Issei who pulled away. Urahara walked forward and looked him straight in the eyes.

"It's been a long time hasn't it Phoenix," Urahara said sarcastically with a grin, "and you're still as much of an ornery little asshole as you were before."

"You, you didn't do anything for me," Riser shouted at him, "YOU FAILED ME."

"I never failed anyone," Urahara declared, "I tried to teach you the proper and good way but you disregarded my training. You would snap at me and always be negative. I let you go because you would never be anything. Your behavior is the sign of a musician that's a failure, which is exactly what you are."

"Shut up, you're nothing but a stupid old has been," Riser snapped, "I worked to become a professional, you're too laid back and now you're nothing."

"Well I may be nothing, but I have golden records, a successful music shop, and good friends," Urahara said, "all you have is a boring job with no chance of a future."

Riser was completely enraged now and he wanted to punch this man in the face. At this point Urahara's face went from sarcastic and smug to threatening. This caused Issei, Ichigo, Simon, Natsu, and Lelouch to shake.

"Now get out of here," Urahara snarled at him, "and if I ever see you bothering these five kids, I'll make sure you'll never touch a guitar again."

Riser then gave up and walked away. As he left he looked back at Issei with a threatening glare. Issei didn't react and all and stood firm as he walked away. He wasn't scared of him, and he never would be.

* * *

They met up back at Urahara's shop for a while to clear their heads about what happened. Riser showing up at their show and almost threatening them in a way.

"You guys don't need to worry about him," Urahara reassured, "he's just a loser who will never make it at all. His arrogance caused him to waste all of his talent."

"You actually took lessons from that ass Issei," Lelouch asked flabbergasted. Issei, who was sitting on one of the chairs in the shop drinking a cup of water, let out a sigh.

"Yes, I did."

"How did you survive that," Simon asked.

"For four years even," Natsu asked jumping in.

"Well I thought I wasn't good enough and he made me think that I wasn't," Issei muttered, "so I began to think that I needed to stay if I wanted to get better."

"Stuff like that happens," Urahara said with empathy, "when you're degraded so much then you really start to think badly of yourself."

"But you broke free Issei," Ichigo said patting him on the back, "that's what matters. Besides you didn't need him, you came to me and Urahara and we gave you a lot of tips."

"You know I'll never forget the day I quit those lessons. It was around last summer."

...

 _Fourteen year old Issei sat in the room where he received lessons. He had his electric guitar plugged in and right now he was doing a rendition of Moonlight Sonata on the guitar. Riser was sitting on the other chair in the room. As he was finishing the piece he added some improv to finish it._

 _"Terrible," Riser said, "do it again."_

 _"What do you mean," Issei asked confused._

 _"You added that towards the end, it was wrong."_

 _"Well I decided to add some improv to it," Issei said, "just try and spice it up a little."_

 _"Spice it up," Riser scoffed, "sure, and mess up the piece. Improvisation means you're lazy."_

 _"I just wanted to try and have fun," Issei said._

 _"Music isn't supposed to be fun Hyoudou," Riser said, "it's a lot of work, and I will not allow a student to play half assed at all._

 _Issei hated that word so much. He had been hearing it so long for four years in total and every time he heard it he just got more and more angry. Now it was the last time and his anger had finally hit the boiling point._

 _"Why do you constantly do this to me," Issei shouted out causing Riser to jump back. Issei was normally quiet and shy in class and never acted this way._

 _"I'm trying to teach you how to play guitar correctly," Riser said simply._

 _"You're always putting me down and never letting me play the music I like," Issei yelled back, "you always call it lazy."_

 _"Cause it is, all this rock and roll crap is nothing but dumb ruffian music," Riser said in a snobbish manner, "it will never gain the same superiority of great pieces."_

 _"Well it's much more fun and lively than you," Issei said. Riser turned to him with anger at being insulted by his student. Not one of his students would ever insult him before, mostly because they feared him._

 _"What did you say," Riser asked angrily._

 _"You're nothing but a asshole and a terrible teacher," Issei snapped at him._

 _"Well I'm still better than you'll ever be," Riser smirked, insulting him, "I can play many great pieces and you can't do anything. In fact you used to be good but I guess since becoming less of a fat ass you slacked off as well."_

 _Issei had to deal with Riser mocking his weight for a long time before he got healthy. Getting criticized on guitar was one thing but being insulted because of your appearance, that was borderline verbal and emotional abuse. Issei then stood up and starting turning the gain on the amplifier up._

 _"What are you doing?"_

 _Issei didn't respond and kept turning the gain up until feedback was coming out._

 _"You better not think abou it," Riser said pointing his finger._

 _Issei slowly began to lift his hand up in the air._

 _"Stop it right now," Riser snapped._

 _Issei held his hand high up in the air and he began to furiously play the guitar. He strummed a bunch of power chords with high overdrive in a punk rock kind of way. He didn't care if he got in trouble, he wanted to have fun and more show the skills he had that Riser hadn't known about. He finished after about ten seconds._

 _"I can do that," Issei said with a smug tone._

 _"GET OUT OF MY CLASSROOM," Riser screamed at him._

 _"GOOD, I'M DONE WITH YOUR CRAP AND I'M NEVER COMING BACK AGAIN, EVER," Issei screamed back at him. He was so enraged now at this man and had finally released his anger that had been pent up for so long. In a fit of rage he kicked over the overdriven amplifier, took his guitar and case, and walked off of the room in a huff._

 _His mom noticed he was upset on the car ride home but didn't say anything. When they got home, Issei went up to his room and sat on the bed. At the same time he was both angry and sad. He was glad he left lessons but he didn't know for sure if he was terrible or not at the guitar. He kept his head down for a couple minutes and didn't say a word._

 _"Issei, are you alright?"_

 _He looked up and saw his mom standing in the doorway. She looked very concerned at him because of how quiet he was._

 _"I...I'm fine mom."_

 _"Sweetie," she said walking over and sitting next to him, "tell me what's wrong."_

 _Issei then told her everything. How from day one of those lessons Riser verbally abused and degraded him. Made him think lowly of himself as a musician. All those years since he was eleven going through all that crap. Issei's mother was appalled._

 _"How could I have been so naive, you're never going back there, that's for sure," she said firmly._

 _"It doesn't matter," he uttered sadly, "I'm not a good guitarist anyway."_

 _"What?"_

 _"I'll never be as good as Ichigo or Riser. I'm terrible at it and I can't do anything right," Issei muttered as tears began to fall down his face._

 _"Come here," Mrs. Hyoudou said to her son as she held him close._

 _"You are talented honey, it was Riser that made you think that way, but you don't have to worry because he won't hurt you anymore," she said to her son in the most caring way as he held him._

 _After a couple minutes Issei felt a lot better. He wasn't afraid and he wasn't going to look down on himself anymore. It didn't matter if he was great or not, he just wanted to play._

...

"And that was it. I left lessons that day and never came back," Issei said, finishing his story.

"That's hilarious," Lelouch said laughing, "you seriously lost it at him?"

"Yep," Issei nodded.

"I can't believe you actually did that to him, kicking over the amp," Natsu said, "I would've loved to see his face after you did that."

"Yeah it was funny," Issei said quietly.

"Either way, you did the right thing Issei, standing up for yourself was the best option," Urahara said

"Besides, Riser lost himself a bit of money didn't he," Ichigo said, "and we're going places, he's not."

"That reminds me," Issei said, "you guys just met our new technician."

They ll turned to Urahara who gave them a wave, "nice to meet ya."

"You got Urahara to be our technician," Ichigo asked in astonishment.

"Sure did, I figure he's the best guy," Issei said.

"It's been a long time since I've done anything major," Urahara explained, "I may not want to perform again but I do want to help out groups and if being a technician is it, then that's what I'll be. Just leave all your equipment to me and I'll give you the best. And you get it all for free."

They all laughed at this. Not only were they going to be professional musicians soon, but now they were going to have Urahara, formerly Tensai, as their technician. Things couldn't get any better.

 **Well they could, let's think about it. Hope you guys enjoyed. This is by far the longest chapter that I've ever written on fanfiction and a huge accomplishment for me.**

 **Since You Been Gone is owned by Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow (one of the greatest rock bands ever) and Russ Ballard.**

 **Video is owned by nonjm**


	8. Chapter 8: The Zanpakuto Festival

**Greetings gentle viewers. The last chapter was very lengthy, which I'm very proud of because I'm trying to write bigger chapters. I was kind of swamped after that, but I came up with some extra stuff to throw in here. I'm beginning to reach the bigger part of the story where the albums and tours start coming in. This is also where I had the chance to use a single song that I love so much. Anyway read on.**

 **watch?v=7QlWpv958Uk**

 **Chapter 8: The Zanpakuto Festival**

Saturday morning came as usual, and it was a bright and sunny day. Issei woke up and opened the blinds. It was yet another day where he would perform at the Tiburon with his bandmates. Right now he had a lot of time on his hands so he was going to chill a little for the day.

For a couple hours, he watched some TV shows, played some video games on his PS4, and went for a ride around the nieghborhood on his bike. Pretty much all the basic activities he would do on his days off. Nothing special, but still enjoyable nonetheless.

After a couple hours of that, he grew a very bored. He sat in the living room on his couch with nothing to do and he had so much time before the show. He'd done every activity and each didn't really satisfy that much.

"Well, guess I'll do what I always do," he muttered to himself as he got up from the couch.

He walked into the music room and sat down with his acoustic guitar playing some old folk songs.

Right now, a lot was on Issei's mind, especially what happened last week after their performance. When Riser came up to him and just kept up that same denigration he'd gone through, except it was directed not just at him, but towards his bandmates as well. And how angry Riser got when they told him about their deal.

He thought Riser was seriously going to kick his ass, and he probably would've had Urahara not shown up. But the real question floating around in his head was, why the hell was Riser there to begin with?

Did he just find out about them on the news when they got mentioned? But the report didn't mention their names, so probably not. Or did he frequent the Tiburon and see him play? Then again that probably wouldn't have happened since Riser despised rock and roll music. Whatever the case, that incident happened and it made Issei very uncomfortable.

He almost felt threatened when he came there. If it wasn't for Urahara showing up and taking a stand, Riser would've probably beaten the crap out of him. And right now he was feeling afraid that Riser would show up and mess up the show for them all. He knew Riser held a grudge against him, since he had been the only one of his student to stand up to him, and the feeling was mutual to say the least.

But he would not be intimidated by him anymore. He had always been afraid when sitting in that classroom, which was why he never stood up for himself during those lessons, something that he regretted not doing sooner. But now, he was much older and much more confident, and he wasn't going to let some loser guitar teacher drag him down. And again, Issei was on the verge of success, while Riser was wasting away in a small music shop.

"Issei, come here," he heard his mother call. He stopped playing and walked into the kitchen where he found his mother on the phone.

"Whats up mom," he asked.

"You got a phone call honey," she said handing him the phone.

"Hmm, umm hello?"

"What's up Issei?" He recognized the voice on the other line, it was Gin.

"Hey Gin, how you doing," he responded enthusiastically.

"Very good, so I've been hearing about how good you guys have gotten with your fanbase mission."

"Dude, we got mentioned on the news," Issei said cockily, "that noticed enough for you."

"That's what I'm calling about," Gin said, "I need you guys to come down to Espada again. I have some important things to discuss with you all. Can you be there by about 2:30?"

"Yes, absolutely" Issei said quickly, "we can make it."

"And also don't worry about getting dressed up like last time, it was kind of pointless."

"Oh don't worry we won't, I'll make sure to that," he said as he hung up the phone.

He didn't know what Gin had planned now, but from how he sounded on the phone, he was sure it was going to kick some serious ass.

"You need a ride sweetie," his mom asked.

"If you can or maybe one of their other parents could take us," Issei said back to his mother, "still I gotta call up the others and see what their game plan is."

"You know I'm not surprised you got this far Issei."

Issei was about to call up his bandmates when he looked at his mother. He didn't really understand what she had just said to him. "what do you mean mom," he asked slightly wary.

"I said I'm not surprised," she said again, "when you starting to become so good at all of this, I just had the feeling that you'd make it to something like this."

"Even at fifteen," Issei asked in disbelief.

"I probably expected around eighteen or nineteen but it's still the same result either way," his mother shrugged.

"Yeah but mom, people don't get famous in a nutshell," Issei said, "some people play in the streets and camp out on their cars. They have no homes and are starving."

"Well it's a different kind of situation, still out of all the years I've seen you play, you've gotten somewhere," she said as she put her hand on his shoulder.

"Thanks mom," he said with a smile, "hey if we do make millions do you want me to get you a better house?"

"No way," she said firmly, "that'll be your money, you do what you want with it. Just don't blow it all on anything stupid."

"Don't worry I won't," Issei chuckled. He then took his phone out and called up all of his friends.

* * *

Isshin drove them to Espada around two 'o clock. The parking lot of the building was still packed as it was the first time they came there. They dressed casually at the suggestion of Gin but their parents still argued about getting dressed up.

"Alright little dudes, have fun and don't get in any trouble," he said laughing.

"Dad," Ichigo groaned, getting both annoyed and embarrassed by his dad's goofy antics. He definitely loved his dad but felt his jokes weren't at all good.

The car drove off and they walked inside the building. It was still filled with all the same people as before. From their perspective it didn't seem like anything had really changed at all since the day they first met Gin.

"Soul Society," they heard that same pretty blonde from before call.

"Yes ma'am," they all said in unison.

"Good to see you all, Mr. Ichimaru is upstairs waiting for you," she said with a sweet smile.

"Thank you," they all said.

After getting off the elevator they walked into Gin's office. To their surprise they didn't see Gin anywhere in the office.

"Gin?" Issei called out as he looked around the room.

"Gin, where are you," Ichigo called out as well.

"Hi guys," they heard him suddenly yell out enthusiastically as he turned to face them in his swivel chair. They all gasped at that sudden yell and turned to face him.

Gin was sitting in his chair with his hands behind his head, as well as his feet on the table. He was also wearing a Hawaiian shirt, khaki shorts, and sandals. This was getting ridiculous. They knew that Gin was a casual and, at the same time, eccentric guy but wearing that while everybody was dressed up properly for work, really?

"Dude, why are you dressed like that," Simon asked.

"It's Hawaiian shirt day, you never heard," Gin said as he sat up straight.

"Nobody downstairs was wearing a Hawaiian shirt Gin," Lelouch said in a bored tone.

"Really, I'm gonna have to talk to my secretary about giving out announcements," Gin muttered under his breath.

"So you wanted to talk about something right," Ichigo said as he sat back in the chair, "so what is it?"

"Well I've kept track of your progress for the past month and you got yourself your fanbase going," Gin then pulled up some papers from a drawer and read through them, "people are coming every weekend at Tiburon to see you, you have thirty thousands likes on Facebook as well as more than a million views on YouTube. I'd say you're mission was pretty much accomplished."

"So what happens now," Lelouch asked getting somewhat excited.

"It may be time now for you all to record an album," Gin said with a smile.

"YES," they all yelled out in excitement.

"But there are some things I will advise you on," he said a little more seriously. They all sat back down a little dissapointed.

"Now don't be bummed it's not anything major, it just has to do with songs and recording. I know you all wrote new songs for your performances so using those would be fine, but I will advise you to choose the ones you find best."

"Well that sounds simple enough," Natsu said.

"But also I have a proposition for all of you," Gin interrupted, "you don't have to do it if you do not want to, but I believe it will prove essential in a way."

They all leaned in with interest to hear his new idea.

"You all ever heard of the Zanpakuto Festival?"

"Yeah of course," Issei said nodding his head, "it's a big music festival held at the beach every year where famous rock bands perform."

"We went there a couple times before Issei," Ichigo said turning to his best friend, "remember when we were twelve."

"Yeah I do, those were the days," Issei said as he looked up and smiled.

"Anyway, they're gathering new bands to perform there in two weeks, especially under this label. I'm in charge of signing up the groups to perform there and after some consideration, I want you all to be the opening act."

"Seriously," Lelouch said in disbelief, "that sounds cool and all but that's a big stretch isn't it?"

"Oh big deal Lelouch," Simon said in a cocky tone, "we're good enough to pull it off."

"That sounded kind of arrogant," Ichigo said, "not cool at all man."

"What I was just trying to be confident," Simon shrugged off.

"Well be confident, but don't sound like a total ass dude," Issei said, "it's not cool for someone to act that way."

"I would slightly disagree with that," Gin interjected.

"What?" Lelouch, Issei, and Ichigo all said at the same time.

"When you start in this business you have to be confident. A band has to have a real confidence but at the same time a tad bit of arrogance and an ego to you," Gin explained, "not overly arrogant to where you put other people down and act like a total jackass to others, just where you talk like _yeah we're great_ , or _we're awesome,_ because you got to be confident in yourself."

"That's more or less what I was doing," Simon said, agreeing with Gin, "it's more kind of playful banter you know?"

"Yeah I understand," Ichigo said, "still I wouldn't really be the guy to act that way."

"Me too," Issei nodded.

"Me three," Lelouch nodded with a chuckle.

"And that's totally alright," Gin agreed, "still you have to have a real confidence. But let's get back on track, do you all think you can pull off this?"

"Absolutely," they all said.

"Okay," he said in a chipper tone, "I'll get you all signed in. Practice some songs and, if you want to, write some new ones. In terms of a time limit you'll have at least 25 minutes on stage. I'll keep in touch and we'll see how it goes. "

* * *

"Should we just do what we did at Tiburon," Natsu asked.

"I don't think so," Simon said shaking his head, "it would be fine to release it on the album but even then it wouldn't really excite them that much since we already did it."

After meeting with Gin and doing their weekly performance, they met back at Lelouch's apartment where they planned to stay the night. They began to think of what they could do at the festival.

"We'll have to write some new songs, that's all I can think of doing," Ichigo said as he lied down on the couch.

"Still for all of us to write individual songs it would take a lot of time and there may be none left to rehearse," Lelouch said sounding uncertain.

"Wait a minute, how long did Gin say our time limit was," Issei interjected, coming up with an idea.

"25 minutes," Ichigo answered, "you got an idea Issei?"

"I figured we could all write a song together. Also we all enjoy bands that make twenty minute songs and I've had the idea of making a very long one for a while now. Maybe we could pull it off for this occasion."

When they heard Issei's suggestion, they began to have looks of uncertainty on their faces. It was true they liked songs of that style but mostly an audience found songs like that boring. Today there weren't long ballad like songs on the radio and while they wanted to stick to doing a genre of music they wanted, making sure the audience was satisfied was also important.

"Uhhh I don't think that'd work dude," Natsu said nervously.

"Don't get us wrong Issei, music like that is awesome but nowadays people don't really like to listen to it as much," Simon explained, "I'm sorry but I don't know if it'll be realistic."

Issei looked down at the floor and turned away. "You're right, it's a stupid idea, I'm sorry," he said dissapointed.

"I think it's a great idea," Ichigo said a little more upbeat.

"Yeah, we can work on it all together and it'd be a great challenge," Lelouch agreed.

"Really," Issei said with a smile on his face.

"Definitely," they both said.

Simon and Natsu still looked uncertain at this. They didn't want to bomb the festival and make huge fools of themselves. At he same time, taking on a challenge did indeed sound like fun. Maybe it could work.

"Simon, Natsu, come on," Ichigo said trying to push them a little, "I know making the audience cheer is what we're trying to do, but you know what? If we put a lot of effort into making this, they won't just be cheering, they'll be wailing for us!"

After taking a moment to ponder, Natsu finally spoke albeit nervously.

"Alright, I'm down."

"I'm down too," Simon responded in the same way, "I'm still not very comfortable with this Issei, I'm just telling you right now."

"But Simon, remember our code," Lelouch said with a serious look.

"Yeah I know," Simon sighed in defeat, "never put down someone's idea."

"I promise you guys, you won't regret this," Issei said confidently, "I promise we can make this work."

* * *

And make it work they were doing. They decided to go out with this idea and write a lengthy song. Something else that made it different was unlike their previous songs which were more fun and hard rocking, this one was a lot more artistic and serious.

The process of making it was not easy. It required concentration, staying on time, and lots of different sounds. That's why they each rehearsed it together.

This was a more progressive song. They did stuff like it on their demo but they never really attempted performing a prog song before, let alone one as long as this. They didn't attempt it yet mostly because they didn't know if their audience was in tune to it. Either way, this was their first time to perform it.

In terms of lyrics, that was Natsu's work. It was a very funny story to how he wrote them.

"Where is Natsu," Ichigo asked annoyed that he hadn't shown up yet.

"He said he'd be here on time," Simon shrugged.

"Well he better hurry up, we've got to do this and then get back home," Issei complained.

"Yeah I got a math test tomorrow," Lelouch added.

The door opened and sure enough it was Natsu. Upon catching a look at him, they all hissed at the sight. He looked like he hadn't slept at all. His hair was matted, his clothes were disheveled, and his eyes were bloodshot. He looked terrible.

"Hey guys," Natsy muttered producing a weak smile.

"What the hell happened to you," Simon shouted.

"What are you talking about," he asked dumbly.

"You look like complete crap, did you sleep at all last night," Ichigo said in a scolding manner.

"No," Natsu responded.

"What the hell were you doing," Issei asked.

"Glad you asked," Natsu said as he reached into his bag and pulled out some papers handing them to Issei.

"What are these," Lelouch asked as he looked over Issei's shoulder to see them.

"Lyrics, I worked on them all last night."

"But Natsu, we said we were all gonna write on this one," Ichigo said.

"I know, but after we completed the music I just had so many ideas floating around in my head, so I took the full recording home and listened to it as I wrote," Natsu explained. He saw Lelouch and Issei reading the papers and decided to call quits on it, "I guess they're not good enough huh?"

"What," Lelouch asked dumbfounded, "no way these are awesome."

Natsu's face lit up at that comment.

"Really?"

"Yeah it's really good," Issei agreed, "I mean just the essence and everything is so creative."

They all began to take turns looking at the papers and all agreed, the lyrics were well written.

"You guys really like them," Natsu asked.

"Yeah of course, and you know what Natsu, we're going to use them," Lelouch said with a smile.

"Really thanks guys," Natsu said excitedly, "but look I don't want you guys to not write at all."

"We're still going to," Ichigo said, "but considering this why don't you write the longer stuff instead."

"I think I can do that."

From there on in it was agreed. Natsu would be the one to write lyrics for the much longer songs in the group.

* * *

Issei went down to Urahara's one day after school. He needed to follow up with him on getting their gear ready for the performance. Urahara really was the best man, and he got them all the best equipment any musician could have. Issei walked inside and was greeted immediately.

"Hey boy how you doing," Urahara said in his usual cheerful tone.

"Great Urahara, so will everything be good for our performance at the festival," he asked,

"Yep I'll load up your guitars, get your effects ready, and I'll take care of Natsu's drums and Lelouch's keyboards," he said.

"Awesome, thanks dude," Issei said sharing a high five with him.

"No problem, so have you guys decided what you're going to perform?"

"Yep, we decided we're gonna make a 20 minute song and play it at the festival," Issei explained happily.

"20 minutes," Urahara said surprised, "man that's a lot. I remember when I did that on one of my albums."

"Urahara, I know," Issei said, "I have all your albums on my phone," he said as he held up his phone.

"Yeah but it's a big challenge and I'm glad you're managing it."

"Mm-hmm," Issei muttered.

"What's wrong?"

"W-wha-what do you mean," Issei stuttered, caught off guard by Urahara's question.

"You know what I mean, I can tell something ain't right with you," Urahara smirked.

"What do you have a sixth sense or something," Issei said jokingly.

"No just the ability to read minds," Urahara cackled at his own joke, "but seriously what's wrong?"

"Riser," Issei muttered.

"Did he bother you again," Urahara asked his face getting more serious.

"No, I'm just nervous he's gonna come back and mess up our show."

"Issei don't worry about him, I've got your back on this one," Urahara reassured, "you have more integrity and nobleness than he ever had."

"How were you able to teach him with him shouting at you every lesson, you might've snapped like I did?"

"I see it like this, music is like your Jedi training," Urahara explained.

"Really, so we're all Jedi knights," Issei asked excitedly.

"Yeah we all start as Padawans and go through all that jazz," Urahara smiled, "I was the Obi-Wan in this situation, Riser is like Darth Vader in that he went over to the dark side. But it was expected because he had so much anger and rage he was pulled in by the dark side."

"I get it now," Issei said, "does that mean I'm Luke Skywalker?"

"Well you could be him or Rey," he smirked.

"Oh come on," Issei cried.

"That movie was awesome though wasn't it," Urahara smiled.

"I won't deny that," Issei nodded, "it definitely was."

"Pretty much, all I'm saying is he's a loser and he won't get anywhere. Not just because of his arrogance but because he didn't make an effort like you and I did to get famous."

"I know, I just don't want him to come back," Issei said as he looked down at his shoes.

"He won't, I'll kick his ass for you, and security will be tight."

"Thanks I appreciate it," Issei said giving him a handshake.

"Get out on that stage and rock out."

* * *

The festival was held at the Odaiba island off Tokyo Bay. It was a very picturesque spot that Espada normally did their music festivals. Issei and Ichigo had their parents take them there for these festivals several times since they were twelve. Going to see it was one thing, but now getting to play there was another.

They had to drive there on Friday night because the festival would be held at noon on Saturday. It seemed like a pain for their parents, but they did want to see them play as they never saw them do it at Tiburon. Naruto gave them reservations at hotels and payed the whole way.

By 10 am, all the equipment was set up and they were ready to go. The stage was larger than Tiburon and had two big screens on the side just like the ones in big stadiums and concert halls that were used so the audience in the back could see.

"Looks awesome," Issei said as he looked over the stage. He then looked up at the sun shining in the sky. It was very weird because it was already October and it was very hot outside. They initially didn't expect it but all dressed in shorts and sleeveless t-shirts for today.

"Sure does, it's weird that the heat is this high for a time like this though," Naruto said in response.

"You feeling alright Issei," Natsu asked, "you look nervous."

"Yeah I'm nervous alright," Issei said as he looked down and saw his hands were shaking, "this is our first big show and I don't want to mess up, especially since our parents are here."

"Don't worry man," Lelouch reassured, "we're right behind you, besides we're gonna blow the audience away with this song we made. I gotta admit it was a killer to create though."

"I'm still wary of this whole thing," Simon said as he was practicing a couple notes on the bass.

"Simon calm down," Ichigo berated, "it was a great idea and I think it will work out once we do it, let's just hope we can remember it."

"After all that rehearsal," Issei said flatly, "I would expect so."

"Hey don't worry guys," Naruto said to them enthusiastically, "you'll knock it out of the park for sure. Let's see if the audience feels the same way."

Within two hours the beach was crowded with over two thousand people from all over the city. Their parents got front row seats and didn't have to be pushed around by the crowd, which was awesome.

Other bands arrived as well, including the band Las Noches who had made it to the big leagues and had just concluded a full world tour. And to think they'd probably be doing that soon.

Gin took the stage, again dressed in his Hawaiian shirt and khaki shorts.

"How y'all doing out there," he said in the microphone with his usual chipper tone. The audience gave some claps and applaud to him.

"Thank you all for coming to this event. We have a great show planned for you all today. For the first act is a band that have recently got a lot noticed, you may know them from the Tiburon bar and grille. Without further ado, I introduce Issei Hyoudou, Ichigo Kurosaki, Simon, Lelouch Lumperage, and Natsu Dragneel, SOUL SOCIETY!"

The audience cheered and they all took the stage.

 **(Song begins here)**

The song began with Issei leading on a clean seven string guitar that Urahara had supplied for him. Ichigo had one too and he watched as Issei played the clean notes. After several seconds he joined in and harmonized it.

As they played, Lelouch added background by playing a choir preset on his keyboards. The sound was so realistic, it would seem that they had a children's choir singing in the background. The audience just stood taking in the beautiful sounds as they washed over them, almost as if it was sending them into a chance.

This went on for about four minutes, and then out of nowhere it got loud. The fast paced music caused the audience to become more excited. The distorted guitars, the bass that sounded more pronounced, fast drum beats, and orchestra sounding keyboards were very progressive metal in style.

The instrumental section crossed from the first section of the song into the second song section. Issei did a short melodic solo to open it with a little help form Ichigo and after finishing it, he started to sing into his microphone.

 **Issei** : _I remember a time, my frail virgin mind, watch the crimson sunrise, imagine what it might find. Life was filled with the wonder, I felt the warm wind blow, I must expose the boundaries, transcend the depth of winter snow._

 **Issei, Ichigo, Simon, Lelouch** : _Innocence caressing me_

 **Issei** : _I've never felt so young before_

 **Issei, Ichigo, Simon, Lelouch** : _There is so much life in me_

 **Issei** : _Still I long to search for more._

 _But those days are gone now. Just like a leaf from a tree. Blown away forever into the cool autumn breeze. The snow has down fallen, and my suns not so bright. I struggle to hold on to the rest of my life._

 _In my debt of inequity. Viciousness and subtlety. Struggle to ease the pain. Struggle to formally say._

 **Issei, Ichigo, Simon, Lelouch** : _Ignorance surrounding me._

 **Issei** : _I've never been so filled with fear_

 **Issei** , **Ichigo, Simon, Lelouch** _: All my life's been drained from me._

 **Issei** : _The end is near._

The next section of the song and it grew quiet. Issei walked away from the microphone and went to get a sip of water. The next section didn't really need him or Ichigo so they were going to take a breather.

Lelouch provided an ambient soundscape behind the other instruments. Simon also started to play an acoustic guitar quietly. Before they started singing again, Ichigo whispered a brief phrase into his microphone.

"Carpe diem, seize the day."

 **Simon** : _I'll always remember the chill of November. The news of the fall. The sounds of the hall. The clock on the wall. Ticking away._

 **Lelouch** : _Seize the day, I heard him say. Life will not always be this way,_

 **Simon, Lelouch, Issei** : _Look around._

 **Simon** : _Hear the sounds._

 **Lelouch** : _Cherish your life, while you're still around._

A person speaking in the background was then heard. These were pre recorded by Natsu as spoken vocals. He said...

"Gather ye rosebuds while he may, old time is still a flying. And this same flower that smiles today, tomorrow will be died."

 **Lelouch** : _We can learn from the past, but those days are gone._

 **Simon** : _We can hope, for the future. But there may not be one._

The scene went quiet for a moment, but played out again.

 **Lelouch** : _The words stuck in my mind. Alive from what I've learned. I have to seize the day. To home I returned._

The music began to build up more and more. Simon's bass became aggressive as he plucked the notes harder and harder. He took a deep breath before shouting the next lines into the microphone. Issei followed behind him repeating the lines in a much quieter voice.

 **Simon** : _Preparing for my flight. I held with all my might. Fearing my deepest fright. She walked into the night. She turned for one last look. She looked me in the eye. I said, I Love You..._

( **Issei** : _Preparing for my flight. I held with all my might. Fearing my deepest fright. She walked into the night. She turned for one last look. She looked me in the eye. I said, I Love You... Goodbye_ )

The build up happened once more and this time it was a lot better. As that was going on, more spoken vocals came in the background but this time it wasn't Natsu saying them. He got several others to do them and they were being played through Lelouch's sampler. They made the build up even stronger and the song much more dark.

What followed was an instrumental section that went on for about three minutes. It was filled with guitar and keyboard solos that were traded off at random points, even adding some eccentric improvisation in between. All those years of practicing payed off as Issei and Ichigo went at it with their guitars and as Lelouch's fingertips grazed the keys on his synthesizers.

At the end of the instrumental section, it was now Ichigo's turn to sing.

 **Ichigo** : _So far or so it seems. All is lost with nothing fulfilled. Off the pages and the TV screen. Another world where nothing's true. Tripping through, the life fantastic. Lose a step and never get up. Left alone with a cold blank stare. I feel like giving up._

 _I was blinded by a paradise. Utopia high in the sky. A dream that only drowned me. Deep in sorrow, wondering why._

 **Ichigo, Lelouch** : _Oh come let us adore him._

 **Ichigo** : _Abuse and then ignore him._

 **Ichigo, Lelouch** : _No matter what, don't let him be._

 **Ichigo** : _Let's feed upon his misery. Then string him up for all the world to see._

 _I'm sick of all you hypocrites, holding me at bay, and I don't need your sympathy to get me through the day._

 _Seasons change and so can I. Hold on boy no time to cry. Untie these strings, I'm climbing down._

 _I want them to push me away._

Ichigo began to do a solo while he held the final note of his singing. It was funny how melodic this was considering he was mostly a shredder, and melodic stuff was more Issei's job.

 **Ichigo** : _Oh come let us adore him. Abuse and then ignore him. No matter what don't let him be, let's feed upon his misery. Now it's time for them to deal with me._

Quiet yet again with the only instruments played being the bass and keyboards. It was Issei's turn now to show his guitar skills. He began to do a lengthy solo for the crowd. It was all improvised at the moment but he didn't care, he was going to have fun with it.

As he kept picking the strings and fretting the notes, he walked around the stage and would kneel in front of the audience to play for them.

After that, it was Lelouch's turn for a solo. With the keyboards set to his lead setting he went at it. The proficiency in his playing was remarkable. His fingers looked like they were smacking the keys but the sound they let off was amazing.

The song was almost about to end so after some riffs, Issei took the lead in singing again.

 **Issei** : _I'm much wiser now. A lifetime of memories, run through my head. They taught me how, for better or worse. Alive or dead. I realize there's no turning back. Life goes on, the offbeaten track._

The song was close to done, what was left were the final lines, sung by all.

 **Issei** : _I sit down with my son, set to see the crimson sunset_

( **Lelouch, Ichigo, Simon** : _Gather ye rosebuds while he may_ )

 **Simon** : _Many years have come and gone. I've lived my life but now must move on_

( **Ichigo, Issei, Lelouch** : _Gather ye rosebuds while he may_ )

 **Ichigo** : _He is my only one, now that my time has come_

 **Lelouch** : _Now that my life is done, we look into the sun_

 **Issei** : _Seize the day_

 **Simon** : _Don't you cry_

 **Ichigo** : _Now it's time to say goodbye._

 **Lelouch** : _Even though I'll be gone._

 **Issei, Ichigo Lelouch, Simon** : _I WILL LIVE ON!_

 _LIVE OOONNNNNN!_

The loud music closed out as they sang out the final note. To finish it off completely, Issei played the same clean notes he played at the beginning with a different ending.

As expected there was all applause and cheers from the crowds. This was way more than Tiburon. They put away their instruments and went up to the center of the stage. They waved to the audience and gave smiles. Gin came back on stage and took his microphone.

"Amazing, give it up for Soul Society," Gin announced. The audience gave more cheers. Soul Society left the stage and for the rest of the day were watching all other bands and having a good time. There was really one thing that mattered. It was time for success.

 **Wow that was long! This is by far the longest chapter I've ever written on fanfiction and probably the best one. Usually I would end up reaching 1,000 and then I'd just quit but I know there's much more to write. But beside that I'm very glad of this accomplishment.**

 **The song was fairly difficult to choose though. I had the idea to use songs like Close to the Edge, or The Fountain of Lamenth, but after much listening to Dream Theater's A Change of Seasons, I said "that's the one". This song is so badass and I thought it would be an excellent choice. I also thought Natsu writing the words to this song would be a good choice after I found out it was drummer Mike Portnoy who wrote the words to Change of Seasons.**

 **Anyway I hope you guys enjoyed and I'll see you next time.**


	9. Chapter 9: In the Studio

**Greetings everyone. Last chapter was a great accomplishment and it's also what I'm hoping to still pull off when I write. Just from the title of this chapter, we all know what's gonna happen at this point. It's also here that I'm gonna bring in a amazingly awesome new character that all Bleach fans including myself love, and a little bit of surprise that will become major later in the story, as well as a shocking backstory to one of the main characters. Read on.**

 **Chapter 9: In the Studio**

 _The teenage rock group Soul Society made their first major performance at this years Zanpakuto Music Festival held at Odiaba beach off Tokyo Bay. With crowds of thirty thousand people watching, the band performed a major song clocking in around twenty minutes and received great applaud from the audience._

 _Several hours following their performance, the group's Facebook page was updated and they made an important announcement. The post said the following:_

 _"We'd like to thank our fans as well as everybody who came to see us at the festival. We've worked very hard to get to this point and we're very happy to see that we made it. We give the greatest thanks to all of our fans, our families, and our good friends who supported us on this journey. From here we'd like to announce that we will start making our debut album very soon. We promise we will put the best effort in it for all of you. Thanks so much to everybody who supported us and we'll see you all very soon."_

 _With this new announcement of a debut album in the works, a new question arises at this point, "will Soul Society become a successful group?" Well let's stay tuned and see what_ _becomes of this group of talented teenagers._

This news report was being shown on the television in the living room of Naruto's apartment. They gathered there the following day to discuss their plans after the group made their big announcement on Facebook. This announcement was completely official and they were very certain they would follow through on their promise.

"We made it to the big leagues, we made it to the big leagues, we made it to the big leagues," Natsu and Simon danced around the living room while singing, similar to a Conga line. The other guys were playfully joining in with the dancing as Naruto sat there on the couch watching them.

"Alright let's get back on topic here," Naruto said. The others sat back on the couches to hear what he had to say.

"Now that you're all ready, I'm going to set up recording sessions on the weekends at Espada's main recording studio down in the city,mand even greater, you'll all be working with our best producer."

"Who might that be," Issei asked.

"Rukia Kuchiki's her name," Naruto said.

"Wait as in, 'the'...Rukia...Kuchiki," Ichigo said in astonishment.

"Who is that," Natsu asked with the other guys looking confused

"Are you serious none of you guys know," Naruto asked in disbelief.

"Nope, I don't think so," Simon said.

"Guys, she's one of the most well known record producers in Japan," Ichigo explained excitedly.

"That does sound interesting," Lelouch added.

"I would expect it would be, she's one of our professional producers, and even more shocking, she's only nineteen."

"WHHHAAAAATTTT?!"

They all shouted that word together and all except Ichigo looked at Naruto with wide eyes and their mouths hanging agape.

"Actually I'm not really surprised," Simon said as his shocked face faded away. The other guys pulled out of their shocked faces and shrugged.

"Hold on a second, are you all telling me that none of you are surprised," Naruto asked in disbelief.

"Not really, anybody can produce music, people in indie labels do it all the time," Lelouch said.

"Well the fact she does it for major labels is definitely a big thing, she's a genius at all of this guys. In fact she did her first major recording and mixing at age fourteen."

"Impressive eh," Ichigo added with a smirk

"Has she produced various bands already," Issei asked.

"Yup, twenty in the last two years. Recently I mailed her your demo and she was greatly impressed. From there she decided she personally wanted to work with you."

"I'm up for it," Issei said, "guys?"

They all responded with the basic "yeahs", "uh-huhs", and "sures".

"Excellent," Naruto said with a smile, "get ready because you'll be meeting with her next week."

"Got it," they all said in unison.

"Now, who's up for some ramen," Naruto asked out of nowhere pulling a ramen packet out of the kitchen cupboard.

"Nope," they all responded shaking their heads.

* * *

Issei kept up his practicing in the band room at school. He was mostly working on the songs that he wrote or co-wrote with various members, on the piano right now. He had his acoustic sitting on his lap and he was getting ready to switch to play a different song.

It was important to know that prior to starting the group, Issei composed and wrote most songs on the piano and if possible would transcribe it to the guitar. However, lately he had done much of his composing with either his acoustic or electric guitar. He felt that it was a significant improvement in being able to try different methods of composition.

"Man, I love practicing but I didn't know I'd have to do this much of it," he said as he played, "oh well, I still love it. Can't wait to play this on the record."

As he finished he heard the sound of a nylon string guitar playing. It was funny since everybody was off on free period and he was the only guy in the school's music room. He got up from the stand and followed the sound. He went over to the window and looking out he was shocked to see who it was.

It was Rias, sitting on the grass in the courtyard playing a Spanish acoustic guitar. As he slowly walked outside to where she was he payed close attention to how she was playing. Her playing on that acoustic was just graceful, not to mention very skillful. The notes emitted by her fingers were hypnotizing to the ears and very reminiscent of classical Latin jazz music. Issei kept watching her for a couple minutes until she stopped playing.

"That music," he said quietly.

Rias gasped and jumped back startled at the sudden voice. She then turned to see Issei standing right behind her. She let out a sigh of relief.

"Oh my goodness don't do that," she exasperated as she panted from the shock, "you scared the crap out of me."

"I'm sorry, but I heard you here and well, curiosity got the better of me I guess," Issei said scratching the back of his head, "still that was very nice Rias, I didn't know you played."

"Well I tried to tell you a couple times, but you were always leaving before I could, or being pushed into a pile of girls," she giggled reminding Issei of when those bunch of girls ambushed him in the hallway that day.

"I thought you tried to learn piano and you quit after a couple lessons."

"I did," Rias explained, "and shortly after I quit those lessons, I went into a pawn shop and they had a nice but inexpensive guitar sitting on the shelf. I bought it and the rest of it is history hehe. I like playing acoustic and electric and I like a lot of genres especially rock.

Issei was kind of surprised. He'd known Rias for a very long time and he'd never seen her doing this. All she'd really talk about was musical theater or Broadway. She really seemed to be more interested in that. But seeing her now playing guitar and saying she liked rock and roll. Wow. Just...wow.

"So your like a theater person in school, but outside of school you're a rock and roller," Issei asked.

"Yep, check it out," she said as she opened a case she had next to her. Inside of it was an old Gibson SG guitar with a bright crimson finish and a vintage style Bigsby tremolo. It was very old but looked refurbished and well kept.

"Wow looks nice," Issei complimented as he walked over to look at the guitar more clearly.

"Mm-hmm, I got it in the vintage guitar store downtown for thirty five dollars, and while it may seem a little old it still works well.

"Thirty-five," Issei said in disbelief with his mouth open wide, "they gave you an old Gibson SG for thirty five bucks!?"

"Hehe yep" Rias giggled, "I will tell you though, I've practiced for so many hours on this thing."

"I know how that feels," Issei muttered remembering his old Les Paul copy that was sitting in the music room. Despite the fact he didn't use it anymore, he held on to it like an old friend.

"Hey, how'd your parents feel about you taking up guitar Rias, were they cool with it," Issei asked, "I mean my parents were mostly okay with it."

"Hehehe, it's funny because my mom really didn't like me trying to play guitar. She thought that if young ladies should play music, it should be on piano, so she would always go like 'Rias stop with this foolishness and start playing real music' but my dad encouraged it," Rias laughed as she told the story, "when my mom would do those rants, dad would just be like 'oh for God's sakes, she's not hurting anyone', so he really could not be bothered by it at all."

"Wow that must suck, having a parent that disagrees with what you like huh?"

"Well she eventually gave in and let me do what I want, and she doesnt really mind it anymore," Rias said with a smirk.

"Oh okay," Issei said laughing, "did you take lessons?"

"Not really. That is if you count online tutorials and books," she shrugged.

"No that's more teaching yourself how," Issei said simply.

"Oh, alright then."

"So what are you gonna do," Issei asked

"Hmm?"

"What are you gonna do with the guitar," Issei asked again, "you got any real plans?"

"Well I'm working on something special," Rias grinned.

"Really, what is it," Issei asked, getting interested.

Rias just giggled in response, "sorry but I'm not telling," she said in a cute way.

"Oh come on please," Issei begged.

"Nope sorry," Rias said innocently, but she was not prepared for what happened next. In a split second Issei had gotten down on the ground and clutched her leg. She looked down at him as he started to beg.

"YOU'VE GOT TO TELL ME," he wailed.

"Issei I said no, now let go of my leg," Rias said trying to shake him away.

"COME ON, TELL ME, TELL ME, TELL ME, TELL ME, PPLLLEEEAAASSEE," Issei squealed like a toddler begging his mother.

Rias still kept her smirk on her face and shook Issei's arm away from her leg. "Sorry, you're just gonna have to wait, but I promise you will very much enjoy it."

"Alright," Issei sighed as he got up on his feet.

"Come on now, don't be a baby," Rias teased, "besides don't you have your own work to focus on with your band and your 'supposed' debut album?"

"That's what I've been working on," he nodded, "I was practicing the songs I and the other guys got together, we're going into the studio this weekend to get started."

"Sounds good, but take my advice, be prepared for touring."

"I think I am, what do I have to be afraid of," Issei said confidently.

"Well there's going to be many jerks in the audience, believe me it happens even at school plays," Rias said.

"Oh yeah I remember," Issei said.

Last month when they did "How to Succeed in Business", during one of the shows there were some students who constantly heckled the performers. It got on Rias's nerves so much that once the show was done, she went over to the kids and messed them up real bad. Rias may have been sweet but she was skilled in martial arts and if pushed, she would fight.

"That doesn't really bother me, there's going to be these assholes in the audience but the best thing to do is ignore them," Issei explained.

"Well the other thing is jet lag," Rias pointed out.

"Oohhh yeaaahhh," Issei just realized. It could be possible that traveling to different places would result in them getting sick. They'd have to watch out and do their best if they were going to tour.

"Well nevertheless keep aware, you won't know what's coming," Rias said.

"I will, you don't have to worry," Issei reassured, "I'm gonna go back to practicing, see you later Rias." He then went back to finish up his practice.

"You too," she said as she packed up the SG and the acoustic and walked away.

* * *

Lelouch kept rehearsing the synthesizer portions for his songs and making sure his voice was warmed up enough for the recording. All this equipment was highly advanced and he initially had some difficulty adjusting but once he got the basics down, he became very adept at it.

He remembered all those shows that he had done with the band. It was the time of his life to be cheered on by so many and to have really good friends. Beneath it all though, Lelouch had some emotional problems.

He just felt a hidden sadness that couldn't go away. He wasn't completely depressed, but some bad memories filled his mind at points and he couldn't suppress them. He was happy that he had a wonderful family, good friends, and was able to make something of his music, but those bad memories just wouldn't go away.

As he sat there perched over his keyboards the memories started to fill his head. He closed his eyes as tears began to fall down his face.

"Lelouch?"

It was Nunnally in the doorway. Lelouch realized that she had seen him crying and wiped away his tears hastily.

"What's wrong?"

"Nunnally, it's nothing, I'm okay," he said nervously as he tried to act casual.

"But why are you crying big brother," she asked with concern.

"Really it's nothing," Lelouch insisted.

"Is everything alright in here," Mr. Lamperouge suddenly appeared in Lelouch's doorway hearing the conversation.

"No dad it's noth..."

"I saw Lelouch crying daddy, I think something's wrong with him," Nunnally interrupted.

"Nunnally," Lelouch groaned in annoyance. He looked at his dad who was now looking concerned.

"Nunnally, sweetie how about you go into the other room and be with Mom for a little bit," Mr. Lamperouge said patting Nunnally's head, "Lelouch and I will have a little talk."

"Okay daddy," she said as she moved her wheelchair out of the room, leaving Lelouch and his dad alone.

"Okay son, come clean, what's the matter," Mr. Lamperouge said, looking very serious.

"Alright dad, I'll tell you," Lelouch sighed.

He told him how sad he was feeling and about the memories in his head. Their parents knew very well of what happened but they thought Lelouch had let go of those feelings. Seeing how he was now made his father very empathetic.

"Son why didn't you say anything?"

"I didn't want you or mom to worry about me, I felt it was only my problem,

"Lelouch, it's my job to worry about you," he said reaching out his hand and placing it on his shoulder, "about this, there are some bad feelings you can't completely eradicate."

"I know," Lelouch sighed.

"However, you can ease your worries if you confide in others, and eventually the feelings will be almost forgotten," he explained, "believe me it always worked when I had troubles. Don't keep everything locked up, you have to explain it to others so they can help you."

"Should I tell the other guys, or my friends at school," Lelouch asked.

"I don't see why not, they care about you and hope the best now don't they?"

"Yeah they do," Lelouch nodded as a smile came upon his face.

"And Lelouch, you have a family that loves you very much and we're all here to help you if you ever need it. If you ever get very down about this, don't hide it from me and tell me right away."

"Okay dad, thank you," Lelouch said feeling a bit better.

"You're welcome son."

They shared a hug for a minute. Lelouch felt like a real little kid, but that didn't bother him. His dad was there for him, as well as his mom, and his friends. That's really what mattered to him.

"It's getting late, you better go to bed soon," Mr. Lamperouge said.

"I will, just gotta finish my practice for a minute," Lelouch said as he got back to his synths.

"Okay, but don't stay up to late now," his father said, "goodnight kiddo."

"Night dad," Lelouch said with a smile as his dad walked out of the room.

As better as he felt, he knew he couldn't keep what happened to him a secret. It was probably best if he told his friends of what was going on because they respected and cared for him. They needed to know.

* * *

Saturday morning, they went into the studio with all gear in tow. It wasn't a fairly large studio at all, not very small, but not huge either.

Everything had been decided on throughout the week on how the album was gonna be structured. They collected a total of 12 songs. Some they had done for Tiburon or some they had done on their own time. One thing was certain though, and that was that the twenty minute song they did at the festival was certainly going to be on the album, no matter what.

Inside was a studio section with microphones and soundproof glass connected to the other section with a computer connected to a mixing board on the table.

"Huh, this is not really any different than where we did the demo," Natsu commented.

"Uh that was at Issei's house," Simon added.

"Oh right."

"Gotta say, I'm really hoping these sessions go as good as they say," Lelouch said.

"Oh they will."

They all looked to find the swivel chair turning around. Sitting in it was a girl who looked like a high school student. She was a very pretty girl. She had raven hair with one strand on her forehead, violet eyes, and was noticeably petite. It was weird, as Naruto said she was nineteen, but she looked as though she was either fifteen or sixteen.

"Soul Society, I presume," she said with a sweet smile as she stood up.

"That's right," Issei answered, "are you Miss Kuchiki by any chance?"

"Yes, and I assume you all are Issei, Ichigo, Simon, Lelouch, and Natsu if I am I correct?"

"Mmm-hmm," they all nodded.

"I must say its a pleasure to meet you all, and you're all a lot more handsome than I expected."

All the guys shrugged and tapped their feet a little nervously at that comment. They blushed too but luckily Rukia couldn't see it.

"Anyway, welcome to the studio," she said in a friendly tone.

"So I guess we start recording here huh," Simon said.

"Correct," she said, "I received your demo about a week ago and I loved it."

"Really," they all perked.

"Definitely, I've never seen so much talent from musicians as young as you. And I asked Gin to personally let me work with you all. Believe me I'm very excited."

"That's very kind of you Miss Kuchiki," Lelouch said politely.

"Please it's Rukia," she said.

Issei couldn't help but let out a chuckle. Another casual person again.

"So how many tracks have you decided on doing

"We talked about it and decided on using twelve tracks all

"So how do we start," Natsu said.

"What we're going to start with is laying down the tracks with all of you playing together as a group. From there we'll individually record all the instruments starting with the drums, then the vocals, and then we'll mix it. If we get a jump on it, most likely it won't take as long as usually expected."

"We'll do it," Ichigo said, "can we get started today?"

"Of course," she said with a smile, "just head on in and start off. I'll hook up some mics for you all."

As she went to get the microphones, they all looked at each other with smiles. This was definitely going to be fun.

For the next couple of hours they laid down most of the tracks. It took a little while to get proper takes, but it didn't take so much time as expected. All they did was just go in and play. They didn't do singing yet as they wanted to wait until the breakdown when each instrument was re-recorded.

Right now, they had finished up on the seventh track.

"Great take there boys," Rukia commented while listening on the other side of the soundproof glass.

"Thanks Rukia," they all said.

"Listen, I'm going to make sure everything's all down," she said, "why don't you guys take a break and talk for a little bit, and then we'll see what goes on from there, okay?"

"Okay."

When she walked away from the window, they all started to have a casual conversation with each other. Lelouch caught eye of Ichigo doing his signature whammy bar tricks and got very interested.

"Hey Ichigo."

"Hmm," Ichigo responded.

"How do you do that trick," Lelouch asked.

"What trick," Ichigo asked.

"You know that squealing thing you do with the bar."

"You mean divebombs," Issei asked in disbelief, "you seriously have never heard of them."

"Hey I'm a keyboardist," Lelouch said in defense, "what am I supposed to do."

"Hehehe, you know it's very cool how I learned this," Ichigo chuckled.

"How did you," Simon asked.

"Well I bought the Pantera DVD from album to album."

"Badass band," Natsu commented.

"Right, but I saw Dimebag the guitarist, he was sitting down and he'd start doing this stuff and he'd have a cigarette on the headstock of the guitar, and then he'd umm..."

After saying that Ichigo flicked a harmonic on the guitar and pushed the bar down, lifting it up again to make the squealing sound as before. In between that he pretended to smoke a cigarette.

"He'd start smoking a cigarette and there'd be this note playing that had this huge...span you know," Ichigo explained.

"That is so cool," Simon said in awe.

"Yeah I actually tried it on my Squier but it wouldn't say in tune properly so I figured I'd need a Floyd Rose, so I pleaded with my mom, and I mean 'pleaded' with her to let me get it installed and well I did, so that's that."

"Yeah I do remember that, you got down on your knees that one time," Issei laughed.

"Shut up," Ichigo said playfully hitting Issei's arm.

"But how do you do that trick though, just pull the bar down," Lelouch asked.

"Well to get the squealing sound you have to flick the harmonic like this," Ichigo pulled the harmonic, "and then you just push it down and up. Unfortunately you might need to get a Floyd Rose or some kind of locking tuners because if you do it with a regular tremolo, it's gonna go out of tune."

"You know Lelouch, neither of us asked how you got into using keyboards," Simon said suddenly. It then hit Lelouch, he never did explain it to them.

"Well uh, I more or less started with piano and well you know the rest kind of goes from there," he simply said, "my dad had these records that I listened to like Emerson Lake and Palmer, The Doors, King Crimson, Yes, Pink Floyd, ELO. I just heard all that keyboard stuff in it and I really wanted to recreate those sounds. So my dad got me that desktop keyboard and Korg synth and I just got it."

"You played piano huh, did you get lessons," Issei asked.

"Nope, self taught all the way," Lelouch said with a smirk.

"NO WAY," Natsu shouted in shock, "that's impossible, I mean just how."

"Well I had this radio and I used to take it over to the piano and while listening to songs I would sort of make up my own little version of it," Lelouch explained.

"So sort of had the knack for it," Ichigo added to which Lelouch nodded.

"Well it took some time to get comfortable with the keys, but once I got past that I got bit from there on the piano. For synthesizers my dad got me this VHS tape called SynthArts to learn it properly."

"Can you not read music though," Issei asked.

"Well not well, I mean I know the basic gist of it all, but if I'm reading a set of sheets, I'll just write the letters of the notes on it."

"Lelouch, I don't mean to say this but, we never saw a piano or anything at your house," Simon suddenly said.

Lelouch's heart felt like it stopped for a second. They didn't know his secrets at all but that was most likely the dead giveaway of it all.

"You okay man," Simon asked in worry.

Lelouch then decided there, he would tell them the truth. His dad said it was best to confide in friends, and they were probably the people to say it too. Right now, they needed to know."

"Lelouch, you alright," Issei asked getting worried.

"Guys I have a confession to make, you have to promise not to tell anybody," Lelouch said seriously. They've never seen him act this way. He'd always be so casual and laid back. They all nodded as Lelouch took a deep breath.

"My parents. They're not actually my real parents," he said slowly, "Nunnally and I are adopted."

Everybody stood there in shock at what he just said. They were certainly not expecting that. They listened intently as Lelouch continued his story.

"My real father," he grimaced at the very mention, "was a huge businessman. Nunnally and I used to live with him along with my real mother. We also had a lot of brothers and sisters that my father had from previous marriages. He wasn't young, and he was married a lot."

"What happened Lelouch," Issei asked getting very curious.

"When I was around four, I was in a car with my mother and Nunnally. There was a huge wreck on the highway. My arm was broken, and my ribcage was fractured. Nunnally couldn't walk after that, that's why she's in the wheelchair. And..." Lelouch struggled to finish the last couple words but he couldn't make it out, "my mother was killed."

"Oh my God," Ichigo said in shock.

"After that my father cast all of us out. We were all sent to different homes, orphanages, everything. He didn't give a crap about any of us. He just wanted us gone."

"That's horrible," Simon said.

"I actually still keep in contact with one of my siblings," Lelouch added, "my half-sister Euphemia. She lives in England now but we still keep in touch through letters."

"What happened after that," Natsu asked. Lelouch took another breath and continued.

"Nunnally and I got sent to an orphanage where we lived for about a year. That's where I started playing the piano. It was the only bit of comfort I had there. You guys don't know how broken I was. Eventually Nunnally and I decided to run away, and in doing that we were found by my current parents, and they took us in. We've lived with them for so long," Lelouch finished up the story. He began to cry again. Seeing this made all his friends emphatic. Lelouch was their friend and he shouldn't have been left like this.

"Lelouch it's gonna be alright, you don't have to cry," Issei said walking over and putting his hand on his shoulder, "you're one of our friends and we're here for you whenever you need us."

"That's right, we're never gonna let you down," Ichigo said as he took a step forward next to Lelouch. Simon and Natsu also came up. They then formed a group hug. They stayed like that for a couple of minutes until they pulled apart.

"We know it's very crappy Lelouch," Natsu said, "but you've got us here and we'll never let you feel bad."

Lelouch couldn't help but smile through his tears. He was glad they were here for him, and he also felt he had lifted a huge burden off of his chest with telling them his secret.

"Thank you guys, thank you so much," Lelouch struggled to say through tears. He put his head down and cried a little more as his friends stood there and comforted him.

* * *

After talking with Rukia and listening to some of their takes. They got their stuff packed up and got ready to leave. They were going to come back tomorrow and finish the remaining tracks, and from there they would start breaking down the instruments.

"Good job guys, I have to admit for beginners in the studio you really did well," she complimented.

"Thanks Rukia," Issei said, "it really means a lot."

"Sure thing, so tomorrow we'll finish up the tracks and then we'll lay down the instruments."

"Sounds good," Lelouch said, "again thanks for the help Rukia it means a lot."

"Yo Rukia, what's all this stuff here," Ichigo called.

"Hmm."

"This thing right here," Ichigo said as he pointed at her desk. On it was a bunch of merchandise all with little bunnies on them. Lelouch recognized was it was.

"Oh you mean Chappy the Rabbit," Rukia said, she walked over to one of the pieces of merchandise and hugged it. "I think she's just the cutest widdle thing ever," she said in a cutesy high-pitched girly voice.

"Yeah I know what that is," Lelouch said, "my little sister loves that stuff. and I mean 'loves' that stuff," he said motioning to Natsu.

"Tch, kind of lame," Ichigo said under his breath with a smirk.

"I'm sorry but what was that," Rukia said still in her cute voice.

"Uhhhhhh"

All of a sudden Rukia's cute face became both angry and mean. Her eyes glowed bright red and her teeth grew razor sharp.

"HOW DARE YOU MOCK ME YOU IDIOT!"

In a split second Ichigo was on the ground knocked out. Rukia whooped his ass really bad in such a quick amount of time. Issei, Lelouch, Simon, and Natsu all hugged each other in fright and trembled at the sight of the angry Rukia.

"You guys have anything to say too," she shouted threateningly.

"Nooooooo," they all said in nervous tones while still hugging each other.

"Good," she said suddenly as her face went back to happy so quickly, "anyway good job today and I'll see you all tomorrow."

They walked out of the studio while carrying an unconcious Ichigo in tow.

"Note to self," Lelouch said, "don't ever mock Chappy in front of Rukia again."

"Agreed."

 **Lots of emotion going on her huh? Again sorry for the really long update guys. Working on chapters like these takes a lot of effort to pull off, but I will tell you it's very good when it finally gets done.**

 **Rukia's the record producer here. God I love Rukia. She's just so badass there's not even any other words that can describe how awesome she is.**

 **So yeah I gave Lelouch a tragic backstory. I felt having that would add more depth to his character and would also prove essential in later parts I have planned out.**

 **Also Rias plays guitar. I kind of get the feeling everybody expected that. But still she's got a big surprise planned which I'm not revealing and hopefully you don't know what it is yet. Don't worry it will be revealed, hopefully not so far in.**

 **Thanks to everybody for the support and I'll see you all next time. VGA Out**


	10. Chapter 10: Finishing the Record

**Greeting gentle viewers and welcome back. I really played up the drama a lot in the last chapter with Lelouch's backstory and I think in this chapter I'll do a little more upbeat stuff...maybe. As well there will be an extra couple characters to add. Also I think at this point it'll be where the group gets very success. Let's see how that goes.**

/2MSwBM_CbyY

 **Chapter 10: Finishing the Record**

The next couple weeks were full of nothing but playing and recording for Soul Society. Every weekend it was just going into the studio and laying down all the instruments. It had taken much more time to record the instruments than it did laying down all the tracks, which only took about two days as they layed down the first seven during the first session and the final five in the secosession the next day.

With a pro like Rukia helping them out, it was probably no wonder they were making good progress. She would add her own little flare to the production aspect, but the band didn't have any kind of problem with it, in fact her techniques impressed them and added different kinds of unique sounds to the record. While producing for them, she also started to teach them recording and production concepts so that they knew what to expect when in a studio and gave them tips on how to do it themselves.

It was this weekend that they would each be recording vocals for the tracks. Issei stood in the recording booth ready to sing his song. Rukia was at the soundboard and computer getting ready to play the recorded track while the other guys stood there watching.

"Ok Issei, you ready," Rukia asked through the microphone.

"Yeah Rukia," Issei said back to her as he adjusted his headphones, "I'm all ready."

"Okay Issei's vocal take one."

The recorded music started playing as Issei prepared his voice. What happened next would be a long streak of takes before a proper vocal was recorded for each person. They started by working on the twenty minute track they performed at the Zanpakuto Festival. What they went through went a little bit something like this...

 **Issei** : I remember a time, my frail virgin...

 **Rukia** : Cut, the pitch of your voice was slightly too high Issei.

 **Ichigo** : I'm sick of all you hypocr...

 **Rukia** : Cut, Ichigo you had a voice crack right there

 **Lelouch** : The words stuck in my mind...

 **Rukia** : Cut, you need a little more aggression in your voice Lelouch.

 **Simon** : Preparing for the night... I held with all my might...Fearing my deepest...

 **Rukia** : Cut, Simon you screwed up the lyric, it's supposed to be "preparing for my flight."

This went on for several hours and it was both incredibly irritating and incredibly difficult. Luckily they were able to get some useful takes in line and that track was finally completed. They decided to stop after recording the vocals for six of the twelve tracks because their voices were extremely tired out.

"Alright, good job boys, pretty soon we'll be finished," Rukia said happily, "why don't you all take tomorrow off and we'll do the rest next week."

"Sounds good," everybody, except Natsu, said quietly as their voices were too tired from all the singing to speak loudly.

"Yeah I'd definitely say you all need a break," she said with a nervous grin.

"Can we finish it up next week," Natsu asked.

"Well we got six tracks done today, including the very long one which I'm very surprised we could do that and the others, so yeah I guess we can."

"Okay, we'll be seeing you then," Ichigo said throatily as they all went to the door.

"Sounds good, if you need anything just give me a call," she said sweetly, "I'm always here."

* * *

The next day, Soul Society went down to the city for their day off. With a break from all the recording and playing, they decided to have some fun for the day before they got back to school and then had to head back into the studio the following weekend. Right now they were in the more populated area of Karakura City just strolling down the street.

"My God, Rukia's running us ragged," Lelouch exasperated in an exhausted tone.

"I agree, I haven't felt this tired since that time my parents took me and my sisters to Disney that summer when I was seven," Ichigo added.

"Really you didn't have fun at Disney," Simon asked incredulously.

"No I just had so much fun that I was exhausted when I got back," Ichigo responded back slightly defensively.

"Okay calm down," Simon said backing off a little bit, "I just didn't understand it."

"It's fine I was just kidding," Ichigo said with a smile and chuckle.

"I gotta say though, as tough as she is, Rukia is pretty cool," Issei said.

"She is," Ichigo nodded, "it may be hard to believe she's only nineteen but I'll tell you, she's a friggin amazing producer. I've listened to a lot of the stuff she's made before, it's great quality."

"Let's just hope she's doesn't still think badly of you since you insulted Chappy," Simon joked.

"Oh come on," Ichigo groaned in annoyance at the mention of that incident, "it was an honest mistake. I didn't know that she was seriously devoted to a stuffed rabbit."

"Just make sure to not say it again. She beat you up really bad back there dude," Lelouch said.

"Don't worry about it, I won't. But I still think Chappy is kind of lame," Ichigo said with a smirk.

Rukia was sitting in the studio looking over a tape when she suddenly felt something. "Someone's talking about me," she said to herself. She looked around the room in a threatening manner, but after a couple seconds she disregarded it, "eh it's probably just my imagination."

"Hey lets just be happy," Natsu said, "we've almost got the record fully completed. Just a couple more recording takes and then we're done."

"Yeah, I'm wondering what's gonna happen after that," Issei said as he looked up to the sky in wonder, "we finish it and then release if, but then what happens? Will we go on a huge tour? Will we sell a lot of? What?"

"I don't know," Lelouch said, "but I think the real question for this thing is, are we prepared for it?"

That was a good question. It was obvious that they needed to be prepared mentally and physically for such commitments like touring and of course all the fame that would come to them with the album. That is if the album would sell a lot, which it might not so they had to keep in mind.

"That is a good question," Natsu said, "but I don't think any of us have an answer for that yet, so we're gonna have to wait until we can find that answer."

"Yeah, I guess so," Lelouch sighed.

"Hey Lelouch, you feeling alright," Issei asked getting a little concerned, "I know what you said to us was really hard, but do you think you're feeling a lot better?"

"Yeah I'm fine," Lelouch smiled again, "I think since telling you guys what happened to me, I feel less anxious and more upbeat. With you guys by my side, I think I can do anything now."

"That's the spirit," Ichigo said excitedly, "go for it man."

"Hey guys, since we're in the city there's something we'd like to show you," Simon said suddenly.

"Huh?"

"There's a place Simon and I would go to before we all met each other, and we'd like you to see it," Natsu explained.

"Um okay," Issei said a little uncertain.

"Excellent," Simon and Natsu both said ecstatically before they took off running.

"Hey wait up," Ichigo called out as they started running after them.

After some running they all stopped at their destination. Issei, Lelouch, and Ichigo panted from the run while looking down at the ground.

"Here we are," Natsu declared.

Looking up they saw a bunch of old houses on each side of the road. Sitting outside those houses and in the roads were various musicians, mostly teenagers. They were either standing or sitting, playing their instruments and dancing around. Issei, Lelouch, and Ichigo looked on dumbfounded. Next to Urahara's store, was unlike anything they've ever seen or heard before.

"What is this place," Issei asked.

"Guys, welcome to Hueco Mundo," Simon declared.

"Is this some big band club or something," Ichigo asked.

"You could say that, this is an indie music community, where all musicians gather," Natsu said.

"I must say I'm impressed," Lelouch said, "you guys came here a lot?"

"I started coming here around last year, then when Simon moved in I told him about it, Natsu explained.

"We're kind of popular around here, especially since we got noticed," Simon said, "I think you guys will fit in around here."

As they walked many of the teens that were playing on the street waved and said hello to Simon and Natsu. Yeah, they were definitely very popular around these parts.

"Hmm, these guys are very nice," Issei said, complimenting how welcoming everybody was.

"You know inside the houses are mini recording places, they sometimes try to send their demos off to major studios," Natsu explained.

"Like we did," Lelouch added.

"Yeah but at the same time they'd like to have their own underground label of sorts," Simon said.

"That sounds like a good idea," Ichigo said, "I mean they don't have to wait for their deal or anything to come their way and instead just do what they please."

"Still music's a hard place to find a career," Lelouch said with doubt, "It's a fifty-fifty chance you'll get well known. Right now, we may be known locally but not internationally."

"That's true," Issei said, "I talked with my mom about it, she said to me that she always felt I'd have success in this field. But she also said that it's a different situation for a lot of the musicians who camp out in their cars and play for bucks in the streets."

"Seriously," Ichigo cried out, "my mom went on me with that whole lecture that music wasn't a fully profitable thing and your mom felt different about it. Issei, I swear I envy you sometimes."

"Oh hey," Natsu exclaimed as he looked down at the end of the street.

"What is it," Lelouch asked, curious.

"Guys follow us, there's two people we'd like you all to meet," Simon said before he pushed Issei, Ichigo, and Lelouch in the direction he wanted them to go.

"Woah okay, geez you don't need to shove," Issei complained as he was being pushed.

On the corner of the street outside of a house there were two girls sitting there. One was a blonde sitting at a drum set and the other was a girl with red hair, slightly lighter than Rias', sitting on the steps to the entrance of the house, holding a Rickenbacker bass in her hands. They both looked like they were around the same age, probably fourteen or fifteen.

"So do you want me to follow you when you start your bass line," the blonde said to the red haired girl.

"No, I think that it's the bassist who's supposed to follow the drummer, not the other way around," the red head pointed out.

"I know, but it's nice to try it a different way right?"

"Hehehe, yeah that's true," the red head snickered.

"Hey Yoko, Lucy," Natsu called out as they walked closer. They both turned and upon seeing who it was who called them they smiled.

"Natsu, Simon," the blonde said excitedly back before jumping up from her drum set and running over to give the two of them a hug. The red head put down her bass and ran over to join in with the group hug.

"Hey it's been a while hasn't it," Simon said as they pulled away.

"Yeah it has," the red head commented, "we heard all that stuff about you guys, congratulations."

"Guys these two lovely ladies here," Natsu humorously noted, "are Yoko Littner and Lucy Heartfilia."

Both girls gave them a curtesy after Natsu had introduced them.

"It's a pleasure," Lucy said politely.

"Yes the pleasure's all mine," Yoko said as well, "I guess you're all the members of Soul Society if I'm right."

"Uh-huh we're," Issei was about to say before he was cut off.

"Wait wait wait, let me try to guess it hmm," Yoko interrupted before she spoke again, "Issei, Lelouch, and Ichigo. Did I get it right?"

"That's right," Ichigo complimented with a smile, "good job."

"Thank you, I gotta say I loved seeing you guys at Tiburon when I went to see you. You really killed it out there," Yoko complimented them.

"Thank you, that's means a lot," Lelouch said happily, "we really tried our best at that place."

"So are you guys working on that whole 'debut album' thing we all saw on Facebook," Lucy asked putting emphasis on the words debut album in a joking manner. It reminded Issei of when Rias brought it up when he was at school.

"Yeah," Simon answered, "we've been working on for the past couple weeks. So far it's made good progress and we'll be done with it soon. Our producer is Rukia Kuchiki."

Lucy's eyes grew wide and her face turned pale in shock. Her mouth then fell to the ground in awe at what Lelouch had just said.

"No way, you guys are working with 'the' Rukia Kuchiki," she asked dumbfounded. She then ran up and grabbed all of them by their shirts and shook them violently while asking questions in a frantic voice. They stood there motionless and nervous as Lucy came at them, "TELL ME, WHAT IS SHE LIKE, IS SHE NICE, IS SHE GREAT, IS SHE COOL, IS SHE MEAN, TELL ME, TELL ME, TELL ME, TELL ME, TELL ME," she squealed out excitedly before Yoko pulled her away.

"Lucy calm down," she scolded before bonking Lucy on the head and snapping her back to reality, "I'm sorry about that, but she's a really big fan."

"Yeah I would guess so," Issei said sarcastically.

"Anyway, it's been a long time so what have you two been up too lately," Natsu asked.

"Same old, same old," Lucy shrugged, "playing together, doing a couple gigs around the city, all the fun stuff."

"Actually we meant to tell you, we recently met a great singer who started coming here. She's been playing with us for a while now," Yoko explained.

"Oh yeah," Natsu asked, "who's that?"

"Hey girls, I'm ready to..."

At that moment another girl walked out from the house behind them all. Lelouch was the first to catch sight of her and she stopped dead in her tracks upon seeing all of them. She was very beautiful. She had dark pink hair, and a very pretty looking face.

"Oh Kallen, what perfect timing," Lucy said.

"Is that her," Simon asked.

"Mm-hm," Yoko answered as the girl came up to the both of them with a shy look, "guys this is Kallen Kozuki."

"H-hello," she said nervously, "are you Soul Society?"

"Yes we are," Ichigo nodded.

"It's a pleasure, I'm a fan of you guys," she said with a sweet smile.

"Oh come on now Kallen, don't be modest," Lucy teased putting her arm around Kallen's shoulder, "this chick here is a damn great singer."

"Lucy," Kallen groaned in annoyance,

"It's true, why are you acting so shy," Yoko said pushing her a little.

"I'm not, I just...you know...I," she tried to say but she kept stuttering the words.

"She's so cute," Lelouch thought to himself.

"You know how about we all go inside and get some drinks, we can talk in there," Lucy insisted before she and Yoko began pushing Kallen inside the old house.

"Wow, they're very persistent," Issei chuckled.

"They sure are, but that's what makes them good," Natsu joked before they walked inside the house.

* * *

They sat in the living room area of the old house. Nobody lived there but it was at all but it was very well kept, like a nice little clubhouse.

They just sat and talked amongst eachother. Kallen started to come out of her shell a little bit and told a few jokes, but she still was acting a little modest around them.

"So Natsu knew you both way before Simon came along," Lelouch asked.

"That's right, I knew him way before this and I knew Yoko as well," Lucy explained, "childhood friends all the way."

"You play drums too Lucy," Ichigo asked.

"Yep, when I was a kid I used to bang on things all the time for percussion and my mom told my dad, let's get her a drum set before the neighbors bang down our doors, that is if she hasn't already."

Everyone laughed at the joke, especially Natsu who was laughing his head off.

"But uh yeah since then I've played drums, for almost ten years now, and I guess I'm relatively okay."

"Relatively okay, Lucy knowing you, I bet you could almost beat me in a drum battle," Natsu said in disbelief, "almost."

"And what about you Yoko, what do you do," Issei asked, "I saw you had a bass back there."

"I'm a bassist," Yoko said, "actually there's a very funny story to how I got into it."

"Oh yeah," Lelouch asked.

"Yeah I mean before this I mostly was an acoustic guitarist doing folk music because my mom was a folk musician and she kind of passed it on to me."

"Similar to me," Simon interjected with a smirk, "except it was my dad, not my mom."

"But here's where the bass came into play, I was around 10 if I can remember correctly..."

...

 _A ten year old Yoko was playing acoustic guitar with a small group of kids in the middle of Hueco Mundo's street doing little folk covers and singing altogether. They were singing the classic song "Sakura"._

 _Cherry blossoms, oh cherry blossoms_  
 _In the spring sky_  
 _As far as eyes can see_  
 _Is it fog or is it a cloud?_  
 _The scent!_  
 _Now_  
 _Right now_  
 _Let's go and see_

 _Is it fog or is it a cloud?_  
 _The scent!_  
 _Now_  
 _Right now_  
 _Let's go and see_

 _"Yay," they all applauded when they finished._

 _After playing she was getting herself packed up about to go home when she saw her best friend Lucy walking across the street with a dissapointed look on her face._

 _"Hey Lucy," she called out as she walked up to her._

 _"Huh, oh hey Yoko," Lucy said trying to smile._

 _"What's wrong, why do you look so down," Yoko asked._

 _"It's nothing really," Lucy said trying to shrug it off._

 _"Come on Lucy what is it?"_

 _Lucy sighed, "a group I assembled was going to do a gig next week down in the city but our bassist Asa got sick so we're falling a little behind."_

 _"Oh that sucks," Yoko said empathetically_

 _"Mm-hmm," Lucy sighed._

 _"Hey how about I do it," Yoko suddenly said._

 _"Really, but Yoko you don't know how to play bass, do you?"_

 _"Eh, how hard can it be, it's like a four string guitar isn't it?"_

 _Lucy perked up, "that would be great, thank you so much Yoko. Come to practice tomorrow."_

 _"I will."_

 _The next day they met up on the corner. Playing with them was a girl named Emiko on guitar. Yoko was given a bass by Lucy to use for practice. She felt like she was ready because the bass didn't feel any different from a guitar. But there were some things she overlooked._

 _"Ok, let's do a quick run through and see how good we are," Lucy said as she got behind her drum set, "one, two, three, four."_

 _They started to run through the song they chose. After playing for a couple seconds Lucy noticed something about Yoko. She noticed that she was actually "strumming" the bass and it wasn't sounding right._

 _"Wait everyone stop, stop" she called out, "Yoko, what are you doing?"_

 _"What, I'm playing the bass like you asked, did I do something wrong," Yoko asked seeming confused._

 _"Yoko, you can't strum a bass," Lucy explained, "it's not fully like a guitar, it's all notes, not chords."_

 _"Ooooohhhhhh," Yoko mumbled in realization. She felt so dumb right now. She literally didn't know how a bass was supposed to be played, "I'm sorry, I think I'll go now okay."_

 _"Wait you don't have to," Lucy tried to say._

 _"It's fine, it's no problem," Yoko reassured her. She felt really bad though. Lucy asked for her help and she couldn't supply it. But at the same time, she was very curious. How do you play bass?_

 _Yoko never had any experience in that field of music. She thought rock was very cool and she liked listening to it, but she had been brought up to listen to folk music and the only instruments you really used were guitar, violin, mandolin, or dulcimer. She felt having experience as a guitarist could somehow allow her to play bass but she didn't fully understand it._

 _She'd seen bass guitars before but had never really thought much of it as simply a guitar minus two strings. But as she was walking back home, she kept wondering to herself, how did you play bass exactly?_

 _As she was walking, she passed a flea market that was going on. She took a quick look over it and one thing caught her attention. Up on one of the displays was a bass guitar. A Rickenbacker in a natural wood satin finish. It looked a lot better than the bass she was playing during that rehearsal._

 _"Excuse me," Yoko said walking up to the lady who was there._

 _"Hello there sweetie," she said with friendly air, "how can I help you?"_

 _"Is that bass guitar good," Yoko asked curiously._

 _"Oh this," the sales lady asked looking at it, "yes I actually fixed it up and it plays great. Are you interested in buying it?"_

 _"Well I was playing with a couple friends who needed a bassist and I tried to do it but I don't know how, and I don't have a bass so I wouldn't know where to start. Still it seems interesting but I feel it would be expensive."_

 _The sales lady thought for a second and came to a decision, "you know what honey, since everything here is really cheap I'll give you this for free."_

 _"Really," Yoko asked excitedly, "thank you."_

 _"No problem, but here take this book too," she said handing her a book. It was titled "Bass Guitar for Beginners."_

 _"Thank you," Yoko said with a smile._

 _"You're welcome," the sales lady said patting her on the head, "work hard and have fun."_

 _That night Yoko started reading the book and quietly playing the bass in her room. Her parents didn't know she had it so she kept it hidden when they walked by._

 _She was starting to get the basic gist of how to play. She learned that a bass was mostly comprised of notes played mostly by plucking the strings with fingers, and that it was the glue that linked harmony and rhythm together. Yoko didn't seem to have a problem with it because she understood how to read tabs and her fingers were strong enough to play from all the years of playing finger style acoustic guitar._

 _Out of curiosity she went on YouTube and looked up videos of bass guitar playing, particulary solos. She heard some from genres of jazz, rock, and metal each different in sound but having a more lead approach to playing. Upon hearing them she was greatly impressed. The bass may not have seemed like much to her at first, but it sure meant a lot to her now. It was there that Yoko knew something..._

 _..._

"And from that moment I said to myself, I'm going to be a bassist," Yoko finished her story.

"That sounds interesting," Issei commented, "but how'd that rehearsal and gig go after that?"

"It went rather well," Lucy said, "a lot better than expected."

"I mean I had only been playing for about a week, but the song we did was like a simple punk tune so I could easily play it. But after that I started working to get better with it. I studied jazz players to adapt myself and even took an online class for it," Yoko said, "I think I'm at that level now."

"So what about you Kallen," Lelouch asked, "how'd you get involved with them."

"Well I moved in about a month ago and I don't really live far from here so I walked by, met Yoko and Lucy, and well that was it," Kallen explained bashfully.

"So you're a singer," Ichigo asked.

"Oh yeah she is, and a great one at that," Yoko jumped in. Kallen blushed noticeably at this.

"Yoko stop," she groaned.

"Why it's true," Lucy said, "come on, show them a little something."

Kallen was growing very nervous, she really wanted to dodge this, "but."

"Come on Kallen just do it," Yoko insisted.

Just then a buzzing sound was heard. Kallen reached into the pocket of her jeans and pulled a phone before she looked at it.

"It's my mom," Kallen said sounding relieved, "I'm really sorry but I have to go."

She got up from the table and walked out the door. Everyone sat there in silence for a couple seconds.

"Man she's really shy isn't she," Simon chuckled.

"Yeah, actually we have a recording we did recently where she sang if you want to hear it," Lucy said.

"Sure," Lelouch said, "we'll listen."

They led them into the room where a bunch of microphones and amplifiers were set up. Between it all was a large computer. Yoko switched it on and after geting the right application open she got the song they did.

"Okay this is it," she said, "alright here we go."

The track began with an acoustic guitar, most likely done by Yoko. It played for around thirty seconds until the singing started.

 _Well I'll be damned._ _Here comes your ghost again._ _But that's not unusual._ _It's just that the moon is full._ _And you happened to call._ _And here I sit._ _Hand on the telephone._ _Hearing a voice I'd known._ _A couple of light years ago._ _Heading straight for a fall._

Lelouch listened to the track with awe. He had never heard such a beautiful voice before in his entire life. It was the most hypnotizing and captivating voice that only a siren or a goddess could possess. He sat there taking in the sounds of Kallen's sweet soprano voice with wonder.

 _As I remember your eyes. Were bluer than robin's eggs. My poetry was lousy you said. Where are you calling from? A booth in the midwest. Ten years ago. I bought you some cufflinks. You brought me something. We both know what memories can bring. They bring diamonds and rust_

"Wow," he said aloud.

"Yeah I told you guys she was good," Lucy said.

"Not only that, she wrote the words to this," Yoko suddenly said.

"Really," Ichigo asked, "she wrote this."

"Mm-hmm, Kallen loves to write poetry, she does a lot of writing and she asked if she could make words to this and we agreed. And I have to say, it's unlike other lyrics I've seen especially the kind that I usually write."

"That's very impressive," Issei said, "I gotta admit she's a very good singer and lyricist for this, what do you think Lelouch?"

Lelouch didn't answer and just kept listening to the recording. Issei smirked at this but Lelouch didn't notice.

"I think someone's got a little crush," Issei thought to himself.

* * *

Back in the studio they got back to work on the vocals for the rest of the tracks. The reason they seemed very tired was because they were working non-stop at this for a long time. With that break they found the strength to finish up the record better.

The following weekend they got back into the studio and finally finished. The only thing left to do was mix the tracks and then finally release it.

"Okay let's listen to all the tracks and see what you think," Rukia suggested. They nodded and took a listen to each one. Overall they liked the results of the recording but suggested only a couple changes here and there.

"I'm satisfied," Ichigo shrugged. The others gave their approval on it and at last the decision was made.

"Okay, I guess now we'll mix it and then that'll be the end of it," Rukia stated.

"And then from there," Natsu said before he paused, "I don't really know what to expect."

"You know I think since we're at a large point now, I'll give you guys some advice,"

"Okay," they all said.

"Things will come along whether this album is good and gets you guys out playing in stadiums and making a lot of money or people dislike it and you end up stopping here," Rukia explained.

"I guess that's what we're hoping comes up," Simon said.

"However, you have to remember one thing. You must stick together. Being in a band means you're a team, and a team needs to rely on one another. Without that, there's no chance of getting anywhere."

"You're right Rukia, and that's what we want to do," Issei said optimistically, "we've relied on eachother a lot during this and I think we're ready to take on this challenge. All we really want is to keep doing what we like doing."

"Well, we can all hope for that, but let's just see what the outcome brings," Rukia said with a little giggle, "now you all run along and get rested up. You've worked very hard."

They all said their goodbyes and departed from the studio. Walking back through the city Issei stopped for a second when he saw a small section with some buildings and a couple cars. Being a photographer on the side he would sometimes find images he found appealing.

"Issei what are you looking at," Natsu asked.

"Just this lot right here, it looks nice doesn't it," Issei responded.

"Yeah it does look nice," Lelouch agreed, "but why are you looking at it?"

"I take a lot of photos and sometimes I find certain scenes that look appealing and I take pictures."

An idea then popped into Ichigo's head, "hey Issei why don't you take a picture of it and make it our album cover."

"Great idea," Lelouch said.

"But I don't have my camera with me right now," Issei said before shrugging.

"Well I wasn't suggesting taking it right now," Ichigo said a little sarcastically, "do it anytime you like."

"Alright I will," Issei said in the same tone Ichigo had before he laughed.

Issei came back to the same spot with his camera the next day and took a couple pictures of the small section. The section looked a lot better than yesterday to him which gave greater picture opportunity. While looking over the photos Issei said a little phrase that would give him an idea later on.

"We came from humble beginnings."

 **That was a pretty good line to end the chapter. Hey everybody thanks for keeping up on the story. So I'm finally gonna hit the big point in the story after this which is something I planned out from the very beginning.**

 **Adding Yoko, Lucy, and Kallen was another thing planned from the beginning because I love them as characters from several favorite animes. Also the song they played was an old folk tune called Diamonds and Rust played by** **Joan Baez. It's funny though because I heard a cover of it by Judas Priest and I didn't know it was a cover but after hearing the real version I decided it could be used here. All rights to the song go to Joan Baez and rights to the video presented above go to Zhexy's arts & music**

 **Thanks to everyone for the support and I hope you enjoyed.**


	11. Chapter 11: The First Bit of Success

**Greetings gentle viewers. This is it. The big part of the story. Well not completely since there's probably twenty or quite possibly many more chapters on the way but you all know what I mean. I want to also explore the development of the newly introduced characters in this chapter. But let's cut to the chase and get reading. Enjoy.**

 **watch?v=sxlohOjcvBU**

 **watch?v=559IO1IBKeo**

 **watch?v=TKVYEShL2fs**

 **Chapter 11: The First Bit of Success**

The album was going to be released in a very short amount of time, two days to be exact. It was finally mixed and available for pre-order on iTunes.

Soul Society decided on the name after Issei took that picture in that section of the city which became the cover. It was going to be titled _From Humble Beginnings._ They thought it was a very creative name and it was sort of meaningful to all of them as they all did come from a very humble kind of town.

The album's style was a serious and artistic expression. Following the Zanpakuto performance and when they first got started working with Rukia, they all decided that they wanted to show themselves in a much more serious light than they did when performing at Tiburon and they only picked tracks they performed that had that distinction.

Creating different tracks of different style and mixing them together was part of their plan as they wanted to deviate away from what people expected of them and do what they wanted. The 20 minute track they all worked on wa s the best example out of every other one and from making that they decided they wouldn't be pressured into doing things that others wanted, no matter what.

They didn't care what others thought of how they played. It was their band, and they'd do what they want with it.

Ever since they finished recording, all the band members had been taking it easy. They hadn't stopped playing but weren't going to play at Tiburon shows or doing a lot of big jam sessions.

Mostly they were going out to the park, seeing movies, playing video games and just having fun. They wanted to relax and see what happened once the album was released in a matter of time.

Honestly it was a nice to change to be free from all the stress of doing those gigs and writing, but pretty soon they'd most likely be doing it again, and quite possibly on an even larger scale if the album got good reviews and sold well. But then again their chances all hung in the balance.

* * *

Ichigo was sitting in the living room with his little sisters playing video games. Actually Karin and Yuzu were playing the game while Ichigo was the judge.

"And in the lead we have the cute Yuzu Kurosaki while the cynical Karin Kurosaki slacks off behind in third place," he said with a game show announcer like voice.

"I'm not cute," Yuzu said defensively.

"And I'm not cynical," Karin also said defensively, "I don't even know what that word means."

"Oh it seems Karin had reached up to the lead as well and they're both tied for a win," he announced even louder. He loved messing around with his little sisters. They were the most fun and energetic people to hang around.

"Oooohhhhh I'm so close," Yuzu cried out in excitement.

"I'm gonna win," Karin said with a grin and a voice full of determination.

Both cars crossed the finish line together. They finished with a tie.

"Ohhhh it seems they both finished with a tie," Ichigo said in his announcer voice.

"Noooooo," Karin and Yuzu cried out in defeat as they got down on their knees in front of the television screen.

"Terribly sorry girls but I'm afraid you're gonna have to split the prize," Ichigo playfully said as he put his hands on their shoulders.

"NO I WANT A REMATCH," Karin shouted in anger.

"ME TOO, I'M SUPPOSED TO BE THE WINNER," Yuzu yelled.

"Nope sorry," Ichigo played around, "I don't give rematches."

"YOU BIG MEANIE," Yuzu cried out as she and Karin both jumped on top of Ichigo, tackling him to the ground. Ichigo laughed as his sisters wrestled with him on the floor. Masaki heard all of the commotion and walked into the room seeing her son and daughters messing around on the floor.

"Hey hey hey," she yelled as she grabbed her daughters and pulled them by her ears, "what is the meaning of all this"

"Ow, ow, ow," they both cried out as their mother tugged on their ears.

"Answer me girls," she said very seriously, "why are you tackling your brother?"

"We tied in the race and he won't let us have a rematch," Karin said.

"Yeah mom," Yuzu jumped in, "tell him to let us play again."

"Was it a fair tie," Masaki asked Ichigo.

"It sure was," Ichigo nodded.

"Sorry girls, guess you're gonna have to accept it

"Awww," they both groaned.

"Oh what the heck go ahead and have a rematch," Ichigo said patting his sisters on the head.

"Thank you," they both said hugging their brother before they went back to work.

"Hmph, sisters," Ichigo sighed with a grin, "can't live with them, can't live without them."

"Oh I'm sure you can live with them Ichigo," Masaki teased pinching her son's cheek as they walked around the house until they sat on a couch in the room where Masaki would go in her spare time and play piano, "you've already done it for, how long has it been now, eleven years?"

"I think twelve but that was close," Ichigo shrugged.

"Whatever, anyway I wanted to talk with you about the whole band situation. In fact it's only two days until your album is released."

Ichigo had been dreading a lot of this. She hadn't said anything after he told her of the demo and their deal and he was hoping to God she wasn't going to stop him from playing with the group. Now though it was

"Mom I know you're concerned, but I'm telling you we're gonna be fine. We really wanted to get to this point and finally did. We're really looking forward to what comes next and we don't wanna stop," Ichigo explained to her.

"I understand and I must say I'm proud of you," Masaki said bringing him close, "but there's some things you have to be aware of. I'm sure you're fine with the whole performing thing and hopefully the travel stuff, but the other thing is ego."

"Ego," Ichigo asked confused.

"Yeah, ego will grow into something worse and could tear apart you and the group, it causes dissension and friction between members and then that'd be the end of it, I never said this but that was one of the main reasons I left the symphony orchestra."

"But I thought you grew bored of it mom," Ichigo raised an eyebrow.

"That's true as well but let me tell you something," Masaki said before she got up and going over to a little desk drawer pulled out an old photo album, she sat back down and opened it "after so much study and preparation in college, I joined it with my friend from high school. Her name was Kimiko and she was a cellist. She and I were friends for a long time, since childhood in fact, and we did everything together. We both had the goal of getting into the orchestra and we worked hard together to do it. Here's a picture of her."

The picture showed a younger Masaki, probably around nineteen years old beside another woman with light brown hair and green eyes who looked to be about the same age.

"Wow she's kind of pretty," Ichigo remarked.

"Yes she was," Masaki agreed.

"But what happened that caused you to split from the orchestra," Ichigo asked.

"Right, well everything started off rather well and there wasn't any tension. But after a couple of years, Kimiko started to get full of herself. She felt that she was the dominating force in the whole group and she tried to overshadow us. Initially I kept my distance and didn't say anything, but after a while it got tiresome. Then we had a fight over it all and she said I had no credibility in anything and was just a hired hand. I was so angry at her that I said I never wanted to speak to her again unless she changed her attitude. After that we went to do a show and as we were rehearsing she walks in and what she said was the breaking point for me."

"What'd she say," Ichigo asked.

"The star is in the house, make way all you commoners, I'm gonna make the show the best any of you hacks have ever seen tonight," Masaki said like a prima donna, "after hearing that I just said, that's it I'm done and I got up and walked out before the show and never came back."

"Wow that sucks, I never thought there were so many jerks out there," Ichigo said. He suddenly remembered Riser and how much of an ass he was that night after one of their performances.

"That's what I'm saying, and to be honest I felt really bad because I lost a friend in Kimiko," Masaki said sadly, "I really wished it didn't have to come to that and I hope we could reconcile but I don't think that's gonna happen. I wouldn't want that to happen between you and the others, especially Issei "

"Mom I wouldn't come to that, I'm not an arrogant person and neither is anyone else in the band. Besides I'd never let it come to that anyway. Issei is like my brother and I could never get in a fight with him. I promise you I won't let it come to that and I'll be damned if I do."

"Language," Masaki scolded.

"Sorry."

"As long as you have it together then your father and I will support you all the way," Masaki said with her signature sweet smile.

"Thanks mom, that means a lot," Ichigo said with a smile as he and his mother shared a hug. His phone rang in his pocket and looking in it he saw it was Lelouch texting him.

 _Hey Ichigo, remember we're all going to see that movie today. See you soon._

"I better get going, I heard the movie was friggin amazing," Ichigo said as he got up from the couch.

"Okay, you have fun honey," Masaki waved as Ichigo went to the door.

"I will, bye Mom," he responded as he walked out.

Masaki sat there for a moment before she got up and went over to the piano. After taking a deep breath, she began to play Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 with ease. She had her worries but she felt confident her son was going to become something great very soon.

* * *

Friday morning and it was finally the release date of _From Humble Beginnings_. Issei got out of bed around eight o'clock. He didn't have to go to school today because it was a faculty and staff day at his school. Funny enough all the other band members didn't have to go to school either.

Issei was feeling very nervous about today. The album was going to be released and have streams on iTunes and YouTube. What he was nervous about were the reactions of the people. He didn't know if they were going to like it or hate it which he was dreading very deeply. Just imagine all the playing and recording going to waste.

"Ok maybe I shouldn't worry about it right now," Issei regained his composure, "maybe I'll watch some TV."

He watched some Saturday morning cartoons for a little bit. He began to feel a little bit better and less nervous. All of sudden his phone ringed in his pocket and pulling it out saw that Ichigo was calling.

"Hey Ichigo, what's up," Issei asked

"Issei are you watching TV right now," Ichigo sounded very excited on the phone.

"Uhh, yeah why?"

"Turn on the news, Channel 13," Ichigo said.

Issei did just that and upon hearing what the newscaster had to say, he fell silent.

 _Today saw the official release of rock group Soul Society's debut album From Humble Beginnings. Upon today's release, the album has been downloaded and streamed by over 10,000 listeners on iTunes and has received close to 1 million views on YouTube._

Issei logged on to his laptop and went on iTunes. He saw the now released album had almost five stars and more than a thousand reviews. He was shocked he didn't have any words.

 _Reviewers have given mostly positive reviews of the album, with most of the praise directed towards the album's music and lyrics created by all five members. Previous performances at the Tiburon Bar and Grill have been covered before but it was their performance at Espada Record's Zanpakuto a couple months back that was the subject of great coverage but it seems now that these five talented young men have hit a new cornerstone in their career and will soon be making another in a short amount of time._

"You seeing what I'm seeing," Ichigo asked on the phone.

"Ichigo, come over to my house right now, and bring everyone else with you," Issei said with the smile on his face.

The doorbell rang the next second and Issei walked to the door seeing Ichigo, Lelouch, Natsu, and Simon all standing there with the same smiles on their faces.

"WE DID IT!"

They began dancing and cheering around Issei's living room in excitement at their announcement. This was just great, all that work paid off.

"Boys could you all calm down?"

Issei's mother stood in front of them with a stern look on her face. They calmed down and stood there embarrassed.

"Sorry mom," Issei apologized.

"It's fine, I heard the news as well," she said smiling, "I'm so proud of you honey."

"I can't believe that it's already out and they're already speaking highly about it," Lelouch added, "but what comes next."

Issei's home phone rang and his mother went to pick it up. She came back with a grin.

"You all have a phone call," she said putting the phone on speaker.

"Hello," they all said.

"HIYA BOYS," it was Naruto on the other line.

"Hey Naruto, how you been," Simon said.

"I'm doing just great considering you all got praised for that album. I'm gonna tell you I've never been so excited in my entire life, I just can't sit still."

"You sure that isn't all the ramen you've been eating," Natsu jokingly said on the phone.

"Shut up, that stuff is the greatest thing to ever eat," Naruto retorted on the phone, "listen I got in touch with Gin recently and he wants you guys to meet with him tomorrow. He has big plans coming ahead. I'll see you guys then."

"This is great, we got an album out and we've gotten widely noticed," Simon said excitedly.

"But what's Gin planning," Lelouch asked. They all thought for a brief moment before all realizing at the same time.

"The tour," they all said in unison.

"But isn't it too early to plan that," Natsu asked.

"I don't know, I don't work in the industry so I couldn't tell," Ichigo shrugged, "still what are we gonna do now?"

"You know what we have a lot to look forward to, let's go out and celebrate," Issei announced.

"Yeah," they all shouted.

"Um boys you may want to think about doing that later, look outside," Mrs. Hyoudou said.

They all went to the window and pulled back the shade. Outside were a bunch of news vans and reporters looking to speak to them all. Of course once the news gets out the media was going to stalk them. Just great.

"Wow that was fast," Ichigo said with a nervous chuckle.

"Maybe we should go out the backdoor," Lelouch suggested.

"Agreed."

* * *

"Okay Gin, what's your plan?"

The next day they all went to the main Espada building to discuss future plans regarding their success. Naruto was also there with them to catch up on the plans too.

"Well it's obvious isn't it," Gin joked, "you're going on a tour for a couple months."

"YES!"

"So any select places or is it the whole world," Natsu asked.

"Woah not the whole world, that'd be way too far," Naruto yelled out.

"Naruto relax," Gin said, "I haven't set the places yet but I'm considering starting off the concert at Tokyo International Forum and then from there we'll move on to Europe playing in England, Paris, and Italy, then to North America where you'll play in Canada as well as select states in the US, then to Australia, and finally back to where you started. I'm anticipating this may take up around three to four months but like I said, I still haven't fully decided yet so it's gonna take some time before the full decision is made."

"Can our parents come," Lelouch asked, "I'd really think they'd like to see us."

"That's up to them, if they'd like to they certainly can."

"It sounds good to me, but how long do we have until then," Issei asked.

"I say we get all the publicity stuff down and then we'll be on our way, that may take another month or two," Gin said.

"Any other advice to us," Simon asked.

"Just rest up and get all your responsibilities out of the way because very soon you're going to be busy for a long time."

"Oh boy this is gonna be fun," Naruto remarked sarcastically.

* * *

"Dude where the heck are we going?"

"I can't tell you it's a surprise."

A couple days had passed since the meeting. Earlier today Ichigo called up Issei telling him he had a surprise for him and they were walking to that place. Issei didn't understand what Ichigo was planning but he hoped it would be cool.

"Here we are," Ichigo announced.

Issei looked up and saw they had arrived at the Underground Assembly Hall. It was a small venue and concert hall that held up to seventy five people. Issei remembered this was where the choir would do most of their performances. He didn't know why but for some reason, it looked a lot different to him than anything he'd ever seen before.

"Okay tell me why are we here," Issei turned to Ichigo with a grin.

"Sorry but that's still part of the surprise, but don't worry you'll soon find out," Ichigo said patting him on the back.

They went inside and got seated from the balcony area of the hall, giving good view of the stage which had a grand piano at the center as well as several seats with musical instruments such as violins, cellos, percussion instruments, and more. The hall filled up and they waited for another twenty minutes until the lights darkened slightly and a man in a suit with a microphone came out onto the stage.

"Good evening ladies and gentleman," he announced, "today we have a very special performance planned for you all. Today with us is a very talented young woman who we've seen here many times before and surprising enough is only fifteen. Please welcome, Miss Orihime Inoue."

Issei froze and suddenly he knew why Ichigo had brought him here. He wanted him to meet Orihime after so long. The audience applauded as the beautiful orange haired girl walked onto the stage. She was dressed in a fine light blue evening dress with matching high-heel shoes. She went to the center of the stage and with a smile took a bow. As she walked on so did several other people did as well and took the seats.

"That's everyone from Karakura High's orchestra," Ichigo whispered to Issei.

"Oh yeah," Issei muttered. He wasn't really paying attention as he was enthralled by Orihime and how beautiful she was. He was hoping her playing was just as amazing as she looked.

She took a seat at the grand piano and adjusted the microphone sitting atop it before she spoke.

"Good evening," she said sweetly, "thank you sir for that very kind introduction. It's very nice to be here again and also nice to have Karakura High School orchestra here with me too. Are you all doing well out there?"

The audience all answered yes. Issei was even more enthralled by her voice. He was so enthralled that he didn't care about the rest of the world around him.

"Well tonight I have a lot planned for you. This first piece I'm about to play is a portion of the Seasons by one of my favorite composers Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, it's titled August Harvest."

After taking a breath she began to play. The piece started at a very fast tempo. Her fingers played quickly with ease across the keys. Issei watched with concentration as she kept playing the remarkably hard piece. She was definitely more accomplished at piano than he was. He liked to be more melodic and play quiet pieces but this was just...wow.

After playing the fast piece for about three minutes she stopped for a moment and began to play slowly and quietly. She definitely beat Issei at melodic and quiet playing definitely but he didn't care.

This went on a lot longer until eventually she went back to playing the original fast tempo playing at the beginning. She did it again until she finished off with a different ending. Issei, Ichigo, and the entire audience clapped and applauded.

"Now for the next I had help from the orchestra to recreate this piece. How many of you out there have seen the show Mad Men?"

A lot of people in the audience either raised their hands or called out, "I did" or "I do".

"Well this was shown as background music in one of the episodes, I believe it was in Season 6 if I'm correct. The song is titled Moon River and it was recreated by Lawrence Welk on his TV show back in the 60's. We did what we could to recreate this song in it's entirety and we hope you enjoy it."

She gave a cue to the orchestra before she started to play again. The orchestra followed with the violins and cello. Orihime was taking the lead on the piano as the orchestra followed along with her. The music washed over the audience and was so beautiful sounding it sent everybody into a daze.

Issei remembered hearing the song on an old record his grandparents had when he was a kid and when he watched Mad Men on TV. Funny enough Rias had actually used it as background music during the musical at Kuoh Academy a couple months back. He loved the song and he thought it was very cool to hear it again.

It ended eventually and again there was applause from the audience.

"For the last song tonight, I'm going to play something that I've been working on for a little while now. I haven't gotten a name for it yet, but I'll figure it out eventually hehe," she giggled before taking a deep breath and playing once again.

The tune was very long and mixed between fast and melodic. There was no words anymore for the audience. She had just enthralled all of them with her talent they couldn't find words to speak at all. Ichigo looked at Issei as he was sitting there smiling and looking at Orihime like he was hypnotized.

"I think somebody's got a little crush," Ichigo thought to himself as he smiled.

Orihime finished up the song and again there was nothing but applause filling the room. She stood up from the piano and walked to center stage. She took a bow and waved to the audience. The man in the suit came by and handed her the microphone so she could say a couple more words.

"Thank you, thank you all so much," she said smiling before she departed from the stage.

"Yes let us give one more round of applause to Orihime and to the orchestra," he said. The audience did just that before he departed. The audience began to depart before Ichigo grabbed Issei's arm.

"What are you doing," Issei grunted as Ichigo pulled him.

"Come on we're gonna go meet her."

"Oh boy," Issei felt excited. He had just seen Orihime Inoue, piano prodigy perform and finally he was going to meet her. This was going to be great.

They found her outside wearing her coat. She was standing there waiting, possibly for her brother Sora.

"Orihime," Ichigo called out.

"Oh Ichigo hey," she said before she went up and gave him a hug, "I didn't know you were coming tonight."

"I heard you were playing so I decided to come, great show," he complimented giving her a nudge on the shoulder.

"Thank you, it was very hard to organize though. I had to do a lot of arrangement to get the whole orchestra involved. Luckily learning the music was a breeze. But also congratulations on your album I bought it and I thought it was awesome."

"Thanks, we're actually getting ready to go on tour soon, you gonna come to one of our shows?"

"Sure I may not have made it to the shows you did in the city, but I'll definitely come to that."

"Thanks, that sounds good."

Orihime caught notice of Issei who was standing behind Ichigo. He looked down on the ground starting to feel very shy.

"Who's that," Orihime asked.

"Oh, Orihime this is my best friend and my bandmate Issei Hyoudou," he introduced patting Issei on the back, "Issei, I introduce to you Orihime Inoue."

"Oh umm...uhh...hello...nice to meet you," Issei said nervously.

"It's a pleasure," Orihime said holding out her hand. Issei didn't know how to react at first but he held out his hand and gave her a friendly handshake, "I've always heard a lot about you. Ichigo tells me you're really good on guitar and piano."

"Well I don't like to brag," Issei shrugged, "I gotta admit I thought you were really great tonight."

"Thank you," she blushed, "that's very sweet."

"Orihime," a voice called out, "time to go."

A man in a car called out from the road. He looked like he was in his late 20's and had brown hair.

"I'll be right there big brother," Orihime called back, "I'm very sorry, I have to go."

"It's ok,"

"Yeah it's fine, see you in school on Monday," Ichigo asked.

"Sure, again it was a pleasure to meet you Issei," Orihime said before shaking Issei's hand again.

"You too umm Orihime," he replied politely.

She ran over and got into the car before it drove off. Ichigo and Issei just stood there alone.

"She's amazing isn't she," Ichigo said.

"Yeah she is," Issei said dreamily.

"You like her don't you?"

"Yeah I..." Issei said before he saw Ichigo was smirking at him, "nononono it's not like that...I...you know...I..I.."

"Come on Issei, I saw you gawking at her," Ichigo teased.

"What, shut up, I wasn't gawking," Issei snapped.

"Hahaha, yeah sure," Ichigo laughed.

"Come on, what would she see in me anyway," Issei asked turning away.

"You're an accomplished guitarist, a damn good pianist, a great singer, and a very dedicated songwriter," Ichigo said simply, "what could she not see in you?"

"Yeah but she's a prodigy man."

"Yeah but don't say that around her," Ichigo warned, "she hates praise like that and she'll get very angry if you say that. Keep that in mind."

"I will, come on let's go home," Issei said as they started walking away.

Ichigo knew Issei was feeling something for Orihime, he could see it in his eyes. He had hoped for it because he felt they'd be a perfect match. He'd let them take their time because it may be a while until they could actually get acquainted. Maybe a couple months to be exact.

* * *

"Let's see, mom said she needed beef, noodles and some tomato sauce."

Lelouch went to the supermarket to grab some things his mother needed to make dinner. Right now he had a hat, glasses, and a hoodie on to hide his face. Hiding from the media was an important thing they'd been trying to pull off. They'd be hounded with so many questions but they wanted to wait until the tour started to give interviews. So Lelouch decided to wear a disguise to keep himself hidden from all that publicity.

"Well I guess that's everything, time to go home," Lelouch said as pushed his cart down the aisle. He went to checkout, paid and walked out of the market. As he was walking with a grocery bag in his hands he heard a sound like something had just dropped and looking ahead he saw a girl kneeling on the ground.

"Oh dear, why'd this have to happen?"

Lelouch felt sympathetic so he decided to give her a hand. He walked over and kneeling down started picking up the groceries.

"Here I'll help you," Lelouch said, "you okay?"

"Thank you, my bag didn't support it properly, thank goodness nothing broke."

Lelouch recognized that voice and looking uo he was surprised to see it was Kallen right next to him.

"Kallen?"

"Excuse me," Kallen asked. This person had just called her by name and she didn't know who it was, "umm have we me before?"

"Kallen, it's me," Lelouch said as he took off the sunglasses, "it's Lelouch remember? We met back in Hueco Mundo not that long ago."

"Oh now I remember," Kallen said in realization, "it's good to see you. Why are you doing in that getup?"

"I'm in disguise," he whispered to her, "the media's been on our asses really hard lately."

"Oh I understand," Kallen said before she got up with her bag in her hand, "thank you for helping me, bye now."

On impulse Lelouch said something out of the blue.

"Can I walk you home?"

He had no idea why he just said that, but he did and he had no idea why. He hoped she wouldnt think he was weird at all. She turned back to him.

"Sure," she said blushing, "you're quite a gentleman Lelouch."

"That's how I'm supposed to be isn't it," Lelouch said with a smile.

Walking back to her house, Lelouch and Kallen hit it off quite well. They just seemed to have a lot in common and talked the whole way back.

"So you live with your parents and sister huh," Kallen said

"Yeah in the apartment a couple blocks town, what about you, do you live with your mom and dad," Lelouch asked.

"Just me and my mom," Kallen said quietly, "we have a townhouse here in this neighborhood. But I meant to ask, how has everything gone with you guys so far," Kallen asked, wondering about the band.

"Very good we finally got that album out and people really liked it."

"I bought it too and I loved it," Kallen said, "I gotta say your songs were very intricate. Have you always played that way?"

"Well being a keyboardist means you have to be kind of complex with your instruments. My idol Keith Emerson did that all the time," Lelouch explained.

"Oh well that makes sense," Kallen said.

"You know your friends Yoko and Lucy played a track you sang on to us," Lelouch said remembering that song that captivated him.

"They did," Kallen said, sounding embarrassed, "they played it in front of you, why do they always do that to me."

"I enjoyed it."

"Huh?"

"Yeah, your voice it sounded really...just so...umm...beautiful," Lelouch complimented.

His comment caused Kallen to noticeably blush. People have spoken highly of her singing ability before but this felt a lot different.

"You liked my singing," she asked bashfully.

"Of course I did. But I mean how did you sing that way? Were you vocally trained or something?"

"No, not at all."

"Really," Lelouch asked in disbelief, "but how is that possible, you sounded so professional."

"My mom has these old vinyls in the house, Diana Ross, Fleetwood Mac, Janis Joplin, I just listened and sang along with it as much as I could and I guess I got good enough because everybody compliments me on it."

"You wrote those words too, Yoko said that you loved poetry," Lelouch said.

"Oh yes I do, I've done it since I was little. I see it as a form of self-expression to gain a sense of satisfaction, peace of mind, or direction."

"Do you play anything at all," Lelouch asked.

"Uh-uh, I can't play any instruments, I never learned. Usually when I'm playing with Yoko and Lucy, they make the music and I handle the lyrics. I think my voice and my words can be my instrument," Kallen explained.

"That makes sense, I'll tell you though, pretty soon I'll have a big responsibility when we go on tour. Our manager says we may be doing four months on the road playing in parts of Asia, Europe, and even the United States. It sounds like fun but it's huge."

"Well I guess the only thing I can really say to you is good luck, or in that case break a leg," she giggled, "it's a lot I could guess but it's worth it to get out there and play for all those people. Imagine how happy you would make them all."

"Hehe thanks that means a lot."

"Oh we're here," Kallen said.

They came up to a small townhouse on the corner of the street. It looked very nice on the outside, probably might've been good on the inside too.

"Thanks for helping me back at the market," Kallen politely thanked.

"Sure anytime," Lelouch said. Kallen began to climb the steps to her house, "wait Kallen."

"Hmm?"

"I was wondering if, when I get back from the tour if you'd like to, you know, hang out sometime. Would you be interested?"

"Sure, I'd be happy to, bye now," she said as she went through the front door of her house.

"She's really something," Lelouch said to himself as he was walking back. Since they first met he had thought about her a lot. If she was an angel then she definitely caught hold of him with her voice. Now he got a chance to hang out with her when the tour was finished. Everything really seemed like it was going to go well.

 **Or will it. Nah I'm just kidding. Sorry for he delay everybody but I got my first bit of writers block while writing this chapter and I couldn't think of any new ideas. Luckily I've got some fresh new ones finally and I'm ready to pull off more. I finally introduced Orihime and Kallen to Issei and Lelouch. I initially intended for it to happen later but I figured, why do that, they could meet earlier. Thats one of many changes I made form the original material but it's still a very interesting one. Still thank you all for the views and I ll see you all very soon.**


	12. Chapter 12: First Show of the Tour

**Greetings gentle viewers. This is it, this is the starting point. In this chapter Soul Society begins their tour with a first show. Annnnddd there may be some filler before that, but nevertheless this is still a big one. It's taken a long time to get this chapter ready due to a lot of decisions I had to make in this chapter but I'm proud of it and glad to finally get it out. Let's do it.**

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 **Chapter 12: Starting the Tour**

Tomorrow, Soul Society was going to begin their first major world tour. It had taken Gin, Naruto, and Espada a lot of planning before the tour and they finally made their decision on where the band would be heading now.

At this point, _From Humble Beginnings_ , had sold so many copies and had been streamed on YouTube. Not to mention that critically, it received positive reviews from both the critics and listeners.

The band had done a lot of stuff as a way to promote their album through music videos and their Facebook account, but they didn't give full interviews, at least not yet.

For the tour itself, they were going to start at Tokyo International Forum. They would then play around Japan in Shibuya, Osaka, and Kanazawa. Next they would travel to Europe playing in London, Venice, and Berlin. Then to North America playing in Canada, and select states in the US. There would be a concert held in Sydney, Australia and the tour would finish off right back where they started in Tokyo. In between there was some time for breaks so they wouldn't be touring all the time.

It was going to be a lot of travel, something they weren't very confident on yet. They would end up missing a lot of school They're parents unfortunately would not be able to make it on the tour. Gin and Naruto had allowed them to travel, but they felt they couldn't keep up with the whole thing, so they refused, however they would be at the shows in Japan before they departed.

Equipment was also being prepared. Urahara supplied them with more musical instruments and equipment to play on the tour including several guitars, basses, keyboards, a drum set, and a grand piano. It did seem a little excess but Urahara wanted to make sure they were well stocked and not running on fumes with the equipment.

That whole thing was making them nervous. They felt that parental support was something that could hold them up and relieve all of the stress during those shows. Hopefully they'd be stil be able to keep in contact with them on Skype or the phone... hopefully.

Right now, there was one primary focus in mind for all of them.

Practice, get out, be confident, play and make the audience cheer.

So far they've done good, but this was going to be more than a Tiburon crowd, but maybe a little less than the Zanpakuto Festival.

* * *

Issei got a phone call from Rias earlier today. She wanted him to come over to her house and show him some things. It came as a huge shocker when Issei discovered that Rias was a guitarist considering he had seen her as a theater person in all the years he had known her.

It was idiosyncratic but in a sense it was a juxstaposition in many ways. Still he had only seen her play once, in the courtyard at school, maybe he'd get the chance to see her do it even more.

He walked outside to her house and saw her sitting on the front steps. She was dressed in jeans, a blue jacket, and converse sneakers.

It had started to get pretty chilly outside since it was the middle of November. Just imagine, they were going to possibly be touring for most of December. But luckily they would be able to take a break and go home for Christmas.

"Issei," she called out waving.

"Hi Rias," he called back walking up.

Rias lived in a very nice house in a suburban neighborhood. Her entire family was wealthy to say the least. A lot of her aunts, uncles, and cousins lived in really big mansions in the most expensive neighborhoods, but not her family. While they did have a good amount of money, Rias's parents did work and decided to live in a simple suburban house in a simple neighborhood.

Honestly Rias didn't like being seen as the rich girl because then she'd be labeled as a snobby, arrogant, spoiled brat and apparently her parents didn't want her to be either.

"So what is it you wanted to show me," Issei asked. He felt this would be her big surprise she had planned for him.

"Come inside," she motioned.

She took him inside her house and motioned him to a door in the kitchen. Possibly leading to the basement.

"Isn't that the door you always forbade me from going into when we were kids," Issei asked nonchalantly.

"Yes it is, and today you have special privilege to go down there," she playfully added before opening the door, "Mr. Hyoudou, would you have the honor?"

"Okay," Issei shrugged as he walked down the stairs. The lights in the room were off and he couldn't see anything, "Rias can you turn on the lights?"

"Sure," she called back.

The lights flickered on. Inside the room were three guitars on a stand: the Spanish acoustic, Rias' Gibson SG, and a steel string acoustic guitar. As well there was a laptop and a speaker.

"Is this like you're studio," Issei asked.

"Mm-hmm, I set it all up myself," she said as she picked up her SG and plugged it in, "the laptop pretty much holds all my effects as well as synthesizer sounds and the speaker amplifies them. Not to mention I can play synths without having to play keyboards, because I'm hopeless at piano."

Issei twitched slightly at that. He was fine with the fact that she gave up on piano, but it still felt very uncomfortable considering his fondness for the instrument. But maybe some people aren't meant to play certain things.

"Can you play me some stuff," Issei asked.

"Sure, I'll use a backing track I was working on," Rias said as she turned on the laptop and adjusted the volume, "ready?"

Issei nodded and with that she played. The backing track was made up of synth strings, bass and drums. At first the song started off with Rias playing a simple clean guitar with a chorus and reverb effect. The notes and chords sounded very serene and soothing.

Issei looked with interest. Basic melodic playing was something she could do very well as he had seen her do on that Spanish acoustic.

She stopped for a second and adjusted the laptop. In a split second, Rias added distortion and began to play. She started to shred really fast using some sweeping and tremolo picking in the solo.

Issei lost all knowledge of how to speak. Her playing was beyond anything the likes of anything that either he or Ichigo could do. She quite possibly was better than both of them combined.

She got each note with precision and it didn't sound off key, flat, or inaudible at all. Rias finished the solo by pushing the SG's Bigsby bar down as the feedback rolled out. She hit one last loud power chord before rolling the volume down.

"So what'd you think," she asked.

Issei only babbled incoherently like a toddler. He had no words.

"Issei, you alright," she asked. He didn't answer but just kept babbling. Rias sat there looking very weirded out by him.

"Ok I'm very sorry about, but I feel this may be the only way to help you out." Out of nowhere, she slapped him across the face as a way to snap him out of his delirious state.

"Thank you," he said rubbing the spot she hit.

"You're welcome, so what'd you think?"

"AMAZING," he shouted causing her to jump back, "seriously Rias, you're better than me and Ichigo combined, how did you do it?"

"It was hard," she explained, "I had to balance out work in the theater, school work, and this all at the same time but luckily two magical things existed to help me out with that, coffee and weekends."

"Oh that makes sense," he shrugged, "but being self taught from the age of four must've been hard to pull off."

"Well my dad paid for this online guitar course which I used for so long, and I kind of progressed through everything easily. Actually the one thing I can give credit to piano lessons for was music theory. That was the only essential thing I gained in those four weeks."

"I do remember you saying that," Issei said, "but where did you start from?"

"I started out classical, then moved on to jazz and blues, and when I was around eight I started listening to rock music and I started moving into that path, and it was a breeze. I'd practice for almost four hours a day."

"Four hours, that's amazing," Issei commented.

"I guess hard work pays off cause it's been twelve years since I started and I haven't felt a need to practice at all. I can just pick it up and go."

"You have any influence at all," Issei asked.

"I do, but I don't have a number one, because if I did then I'd alienate a lot of other great ones," Rias explained. Issei nodded at this, despite all the influence he had, he didn't have a major one at all, because there were so many he couldn't decide on a number one.

"So this was what you were planning for me," Issei then said.

"Huh?"

"That surprise, all along you wanted me to see how good you had gotten because of it," Issei said.

"No, that's not the surprise. I told you I'm not saying anything until it's finally ready and it still isn't," Rias said annoyingly.

"Awww, but it's so tempting," Issei whined.

"Come on, you've got your own priorities to worry about especially because tomorrow you're doing your first show," Rias pointed out.

"Are you coming to see?"

"I sure am, a couple friends of mine are coming to," she nodded, "I may not have been able to come to those venues, but I think I'll make it to this one, hopefully."

"That'll be great, if I can I'll give a shout out to you while I'm on stage," Issei perked. He then heard his phone going off like crazy in his pocket.

"Seems like you got a call," Rias pointed out.

Issei nodded as he pulled out his phone and saw Naruto's name on the caller ID.

"Aw crap," Issei mumbled. Why did their manager to call at a time like this. The tour wasn't even until tomorrow.

"What's up Naruto,"

"Issei, wherever you are you need to leave now," Naruto said on the phone, "we have an important meeting for something."

"Alright I'll be leaving," Issei hung up his phone, "sorry, I don't know what Naruto's got up his sleeve this time but I have to leave."

"It's fine, I guess I'll see you tomorrow at the show then, good luck," Rias said

"Shouldn't you say break a leg," Issei smirked.

"In the theater yes, but not necessarily for a rock concert, anyway I'll see you tomorrow," she said before she gave Issei a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"Uh thanks Rias, bye" Issei muttered as he walked out of the house. He suddenly felt really hot. Rias had never done something like that before and he never expected her to. Then again it was probably just an example of sibling like affection. Whatever, it wasn't such a big deal.

When he walked outside, he saw Naruto's Lamborgini was parked outside. The other guys were in there already and they waved when they saw him outside. Issei groaned and got in the car.

"Hey guys, okay Naruto where are we going," Issei asked.

"To the local TV station boys," Naruto quipped, "you're giving your first interview."

"Really," they all cried.

"Yeah, I figure you guys need to present yourself before the shows so we figure an interview is the best way to do it, and don't worry just answer everything he asks and be happy," Naruto explained, "besides if you guys can make hilarious stuff on Facebook then maybe this would work too."

"Oh great," Lelouch added sarcastically.

* * *

The TV station was located downtown in Karakura City. Upon arriving, several assistants took them backstage, making sure they were presentable and giving them the run-through of what to do and what to say.

"So all you have to do is just answer the questions, you can be humorous if you want but no inappropriate jokes, no rude comments, and especially no swearing," the assistant said to them very seriously, "am I clear?"

"Come on we're fifteen," Natsu added, "how bad can we possibly get."

"I'd say pretty bad Natsu, we swear a lot at this age," Simon added before the one assistant pulled him over to add some touch-ups

"Soul Society, you're on now," one assistant came into the room saying.

Getting up from their seats in the dressing room, they went behind the curtain leading to the stage where the TV show would take place. In front of the stage was the host, a man in his late 30's wearing a formal black suit.

"So today on the show, we got a group of five teenage boys who have made news recently as an up and coming rock n' roll group," the announcer said to the audience with a large smile spread across his face, "we've followed them for the past couple of months as they built up their fanbase and established themselves in the musical world with help from management under Espada Records.

He then held up a copy of the album before speaking again, "Currently they have released their first studio album, _From Humble Beginnings_ , and are planning to go on tour starting tomorrow at the Tokyo International Forum, we have a great honor to interview them tonight. So without further ado, let us welcome, Soul Society!"

The TV audience applauded as Issei, Ichigo, Simon, Lelouch and Natsu took the stage waving to the audience before going up and each shaking the hand of the host before they each took a seat over by the host's desk. They waited until the audience quieted down.

"Okay, so I must say it's an honor to meet all you guys tonight," the host said.

"Oh it's great to be here," Lelouch quipped, "thanks for having us."

"So let me remember you're names Issei, Ichigo, Lelouch, Simon, and Natsu, is that correct?"

"Yes you are correct sir," Natsu said playfully causing the audience to laugh.

"So you guys have really gotten far and before this you were just a bunch of kids who played music for fun and were attending high school. How does it feel getting to this point? Is it very fun, is it kind of crazy, what's it like?"

"It's kind of a mix of both you know," Ichigo added, "I mean it's great going out there and playing for so many people, but it's hectic with having to balance out school work and being a teenager. But overall it's a very good time so none of us can complain."

"What do you think makes you guys so good at what you do, what's your secret to success?"

After the question was asked, they all whispered to each other. They suddenly got up from their seats and all started dancing in a goofy fashion.

"Cause we can dance," Simon added.

The audience and even the host laughed at their joke before they all sat back down to continue the interview.

"So let's get some background on all of you, like how you all got started in music and all," the host said, "and now I'm gonna start with Issei, where did you start?"

"Umm, I started with piano when I was six," Issei answered, "we have this grand piano in the house that was originally my grandmother's, on my mom's side, and nobody in the house played it so my parents persuaded me to take it up."

"That's very interesting, did you take lessons?"

"Yes I took lessons with my local church organist for about five years and it was very fun," Issei answered, "It wasn't like a major classical training though, he basically just taught me how to use both hands to play. And I can't read music all that well either."

"Well I suppose you never got bored with it because in the footage we saw previously of you guys when you did your gigs at Tiburon, you did play the piano frequently," the announcer added.

"Well a lot of people say that piano is boring, but as a piece of advice to anyone out there who wants to get started," Issei said looking at the audience, "you have to find a way to make it less tedious and that's what my teacher did."

"But you also are one of the two guitarists, so where did that come in?"

"When I was ten, I started taking up guitar because I wanted to play something new, but partially because Ichigo was doing it and I thought he was really good at it, which he is."

Ichigo laughed after Issei spoke and bent his back down as he was cracking up.

"It's been said you and Ichigo are sort of childhood friends right?"

"Uh not sort of," Ichigo corrected, "we are childhood friends." The two of them put their arms around each others shoulders and both smiled to the camera.

"Okay so I guess you're next Ichigo, what's your story," the host asked.

"A little different from Issei's because I started playing guitar when I was five. My dad played in a rock band back in the day. He's a doctor and physician now, but he also teaches guitar on the side and so I asked him to teach me. I was very much engrossed with it, and I still am. Dad if you're watching this I love you and thanks for teaching me," Ichigo waved to the camera.

"Okay now Lelouch, what happened with you?"

"I played piano as well when I was seven," Lelouch said, "but unlike Issei I didn't receive lessons. I would take this little radio and just make up my own version of songs on the piano, and my interest in keyboards and synthesizers came along because my dad had these old prog rock records which had a lot of synthesizers and keyboards in it. I figured I could do it since I had the finger strength to pull it off and I spent a lot of time studying how to use them."

"I must admit your use of synthesizers is really frequent and it's shocking that you never received formal instruction," the host added.

"A lot of people get very surprised when they hear me say that, but it's more of a technical knowledge you need to have," Lelouch said, "I honestly feel that Issei is a much better pianist than I am in terms of melody."

"But he's more skilled on keyboards than I am with the whole technical aspect," Issei said, "but quite possibly he may be a lot faster on piano than me. We'll have to see."

"Really," Lelouch asked.

"Yeah you could play some piano if you want to, go right ahead," Issei said as he pat Lelouch on the back.

"Okay next up, Simon."

"I was an acoustic guitarist as a kid," Simon explained, "I initially wanted to play electric guitar but through 'certain circumstances' I got into playing bass which I'm very glad about. But I was always bothered when people said that bass players were useless and just there because they weren't good enough on guitar."

"Which is a big lie, I'd seen this guy play acoustic guitar a bunch of times," Natsu jumped in.

"Yeah so after that I wanted to be one of those guys who could make the bass into more of a lead instrument. Make it so it wasn't just an instrument nobody gave a crap about anymore."

"I'd say he pretty much did that, didn't you," Ichigo joked going face to face with Simon with a smile.

"And now Natsu, you're the drummer, what got you into it," the announcer asked.

"Well surprisingly I didn't come from an entirely musical family," Natsu said causing the audience to wonder, "I know it's kind of shocking but my parents aren't musicians. We all like music they just don't play anything, but when I was around four or five I saw this guy playing drums on TV. He wasn't doing anything major but it still looked cool. Later I said to my dad that I wanted to play drums and he got me a kit."

"And you just drummed since then?"

"Well when I first got it, I tried to play it but I didn't know how," he chuckled remembering what happened, "I was like 'dad how do you play drums', and then I decided to start learning."

"And you became great right," the announcer asked. Natsu just shrugged. He wasn't going to be snobby about his playing style.

"So with your background, do you all have a big influence that sparked you all to play," the announcer asked, "let's go down the line and hear who all of yours were."

"I have a lot and I can't really decide on a number one because I'd alienate so many," Issei said.

"Okay that's good, Ichigo what about you?"

"Hendrix," Ichigo said very quickly with a smirk, "no question about it."

"Okay, Simon?"

"I really like John Entwistle from the Who," Simon said, "but that's everyone's favorite I guess."

"Lelouch?"

"Keith Emerson, I remember seeing that guy so many times in videos jumping on his Hammond organ and stabbing it with knives. Not to mention his playing was incredible and to also add, he never had formal training either, the only teachers he had were local old ladies. He's the best and I love him," Lelouch rambled on.

"And Natsu?"

"I personally like jazz and hard rock drummers, but in terms of a favorite it would probably be a cross between John Bonham, Keith Moon and Carl Palmer," Natsu explained, "they just had so much energy and charisma. However, as much as I love Keith's playing, I don't really enjoy him destroying his drum set. It just isn't cool to see."

"Oh so you're not the type for instrument destruction?"

"None of us are," Issei said, "why would you like to destroy a perfectly good instrument? It doesn't make any sense. I won't deny it, it's cool to look at but it's not something that I think any of us would do."

"That's very nice you're very dedicated to that," the announcer said with a smile, "so the next question I'd like to ask is when you guys started doing the gigs at Tiburon, did you really expect to get well known this fast?"

"No," they all said.

"I heard that getting to this point takes years, I'd figured we'd be in college by the time we got our deal," Lelouch said.

"Hey I was the one who said that," Natsu pointed out.

"Oh I'm sorry."

"It's kind of funny because earlier this year I was working on the fall musical in my school. We were doing How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, and when we started getting big, I kept thinking to myself we pretty much did succeed without really trying," Issei joked.

"So how do you guys feel about, From Humble Beginnings, are you overly satisfied with the record?"

"I'd say we're overjoyed with it," Lelouch said, "it was great to work on, especially having help from Rukia Kuchiki. She's a friggin amazing producer."

"So the music was different than what you did at the Tiburon in that it's not as fun of a record as most people think and is very more serious. Also it crosses a line between progressive rock, alternative rock, and hard rock styles especially with the one track that runs longer than 20 minutes. Was that very much part of your plan?"

"We like a lot of different music," Simon said, "and it's boring to do only one genre so we decided to kind of mix it. Also we wanted to do things more outside of this happy fun music we did when performing at Tiburon and present ourselves more seriously."

"Also a lot of people are constantly calling us an alternative band, which is kind of true because we alternate, but I figure the real term should be something like umm... edge rock," Ichigo explained.

"Edge rock," the host asked confused. The others looked at him, also confused.

"Yeah because we're always on the edge of being a different genre, it's kind of cool when you think about it."

"Okay so tomorrow you guys are doing your first show, are you all excited?"

"Definitely, we've been looking forward to this for so long. To go across the world and play for hundreds of people," Issei said.

"The only thing we're not very confident on is jet-lag," Ichigo joked making the audience laugh.

"Ok so we're out of time now but it was great talking to you guys and do you all have anything else to say to the audience out there?"

They whispered in each other's ears on what to say before turning to the audience and saying...

"Rock on!"

They said this doing the signature devil horn hand gesture and sticking their tongues out. The audience all laughed in response to this.

Ok well thanks for being here and we hope you all have a great tour," the host said

"Thank you," they all said.

"Let's give it up for Soul Society," the host said as the audience applauded ending the broadcast.

* * *

Tokyo International Forum was packed the next night with so many fans coming to see them. It was not a crowd of thirty thousand as it was with the Zanpakuto Festival, but close to around seven hundred. The forum itself wasn't a huge concert hall but it was still considerably big.

As fans gathered into the hall, the band was backstage getting set up. Urahara was there making sure all the equipment was set and ready. He spent time restringing the guitars, programming the keyboards, getting the amplifiers set up, everything.

Issei glanced beyond the stage and saw the large amount of people. He was without a doubt very nervous. This was Soul Society's major show. This wasn't Tiburon and it wasn't Zanpakuto. He just couldn't stop shaking with fear as he stood behind that curtain getting ready to take the stage.

"Issei, you okay," Ichigo asked.

"I don't think I can do this," he muttered.

"What, what are you talking about," Simon asked in disbelief.

"I'm really nervous, this isn't like anything we've done before and I'm afraid I'll mess up,

"Dude, it's a live show, you can mess up a little and nobody will care," Natsu tried to encourage.

"Besides, they just want a good show, just run around and raise hell like we always do" Lelouch tried to cheer him up.

"I don't know," Issei said still nervous.

"Hey Issei let me tell you," Urahara said standing there with Issei's PRS guitar in his hands, "the first time I did a show back when I was seventeen as Tensai, I was nervous as all hell."

"You Kisuke Urahara aka Tensai were nervous," Issei asked in disbelief, "you were the most theatrical guy I've ever seen in all of music. How could you have been nervous?"

"It's a learning experience, it's one of the steps in your music Jedi training," Urahara explained as he put his hand on Issei's shoulder, "and if you accomplish this show tonight with confidence, you accomplish the first step of being a Jedi knight."

"Please stop with the Star Wars references, I know The Force Awakens was great but you don't need to go on and on about it," Lelouch said in annoyance.

"Basically what I'm saying is, get out there and be happy, you'll make it," he said as he handed Issei his PRS.

"Okay, I'm ready," Issei said standing firm and upright.

* * *

Audiences sat in their chairs waiting for the show to start. Eventually all the lights in the place went dark and the place was pitch black.

"Ladies and gentleman, Soul Society"

They were all on stage, having gotten on when the lights darkened. Issei stood there with his pick clenched in his hands. He inhaled deeply and after he exhaled he began to play.

He played simple clean notes with a chorus effect on. He kept repeating the same notes over and over. As he did, the lights began to slowly lighten on him at first. Lelouch's keyboards began to play making simple background noise getting progressively louder.

When the sounds eventually reached a peak, everyone else began to play. Ichigo played distorted power chords next to Issei's clean notes. Issei eventually stopped playing the clean notes and then hit the distortion effect in his pedal board playing alongside Ichigo walking around the stage.

 **Lelouch** : _Lost in the sky, clouds roll by and I roll with them. Arrows fly, seas increase and then fall again._

 _This world is spinning around me, this whole world is spinning without me. Every day sends, future to past. Every breath leaves me one less to my last._

 _(keyboard riff)_

 _Watch the sparrow fall, gives new meaning to it all. If not today nor yet tomorrow, then some other day. I'll take seven lives for one and then my only father's son As sure as I did ever love him. I am not afraid_

 _This world is spinning around me. The whole world keeps, spinning around me. All life is future to past. Every breath leaves me one less to my last_

 _(fast guitar riff)_

 **Lelouch, Issei, Ichigo** : _Pull me under, pull me under, pull me under, I'm not afraid._

 **Lelouch:** _All that I feel is honor and spite. All I can do is set it right._

 _(music)_

 **Lelouch:** _Dust fills my eyes. Clouds roll by and I roll with them. Centuries cry. Orders fly and then fall again._

 _This world is spinning inside me. The whole world is spinning inside me. Every day sends future to past. Every steps brings me closer to my last._

 _(fast guitar riff)_

 **Lelouch, Issei, Ichigo:** _Pull me under, pull me under, pull me under, I'm not afraid._

 **Lelouch:** _Living my life, too much in the sun. Only until your will is done._

The lights grew darker as Issei's clean guitar played again with Lelouch's quiet keyboards. Lelouch kept the volume low and played slowly, progressively turning the volume up louder and louder, with the lights growing brighter simultaneously. When the keyboards finally got loud enough, the guitars did their solo. It was shared between Issei and Ichigo both making use of their wah pedals.

 **Lelouch, Issei, Ichigo:** _Pull me under, pull me under, pull me under, I'm not afraid._

 **Lelouch:** _Living my life, too much in the sun. Only until your will is done._

The song kept up with the instrumentals after the singing was finished. Eventually they slowed down until they were silence. As expected there was applause from the audience. They really loved it. Once they grew quiet, Issei took center stage, changing his guitar tuning to E flat.

The new song started with Lelouch playing a sampler that triggered electronic drum beats and synthesizer sounds. Next came the drums, bass, and the guitars played at the same time, both in E flat. As well another recorded sound was played repeatedly. It was Issei's voice singing "ooohhh" over and over again.

 **Issei** : _Shake down, 1979. Cool kids, never have the time. On a live wire right above the street, you and I, should meet._

 _June bug, skipping like a stone. With the headlights, pointed at the dawn. We were sure, we'd never see an end...to it all._

 _And I don't even care, to shake these zipper blues. And we don't know just where our bones will rest. To dust I guess. Forgotten and absorbed into the earth below._

Issei stood very still as he sang the vocal, his mouth very close to his microphone it was a wonder his breath wasn't being heard, while the other guys moved around more (except for Lelouch who was triggering the sampler). He really wanted to make sure that he was playing and singing it perfectly, feeling that running around would cause him to mess up.

 **Issei** : _Double cross the vacant and the bored. They're not sure, just what we have in store. Morphine city, slipping dues, down to see..._

 _That don't even care, as restless as we are. We feel the pull, in the land of a thousand guilts. And poured cement, lamented and assured. To the lights and the towns below. Faster than the speed of sound. Faster than we thought we'd go, beneath the sound of hope._

 _Justine never knew the rules. Hung down with the freaks and ghouls. No apologies ever need be made. I know you better than you fake it. To see._

 _That we don't even care, to shake these zipper blues. And we don't know just where our bones will rest. To dust I guess. Forgotten and absorbed to the earth below._

 _The street heats the urgency of now. And you see there's no one around._

Lelouch kept up the sampler as Issei finished singing and backed away from the microphone. The audience gave another applause as Issei waved with a smile and went over to Urahara to switch out guitars for the next song.

It opened with the sound of the distorted synth lead keyboards followed by the loud guitars. Ichigo took center stage on lead vocals while Issei and Simon provided backup.

 **Ichigo, Issei, Simon** : _Your love is like bad medicine. Bad medicine is what I need, woah ho ho, shake it up, just like...bad medicine. There ain't no doctor that can cure my disease._

The keyboards played intertwined with drums. Right before the first verse started, Simon and Lelouch uttered one line into the same microphone.

 **Lelouch, Simon** : _Bad medicine_

 **Ichigo** : _I ain't got a fever, got a permanent disease and it'll take more than a doctor to prescribe a remedy. I got lot's of money but it isn't what I need. Gonna take more than a shot to get this poison out of me. And I got all the symptoms, count them 1 2 3. First you need_

 **Issei, Simon** : _That's what you get for falling in love_

 **Ichigo** : _Then you bleed_

 **Issei, Simon** : _You get a little but it's never enough._

 **Ichigo** : _And when you're on your knees._

 **Issei, Simon** : _That's what you get for falling in love._

 **Ichigo** : _Now this boy's addicted cause your kiss is the drug. Woah ho ho._

 **Ichigo, Issei, Simon** : _Your love is like bad medicine, bad medicine is what I need. Woah ho ho, shake it up just like bad medicine._

 **Ichigo:** There _ain't no doctor that can cure my disease_

 _Baaaad Baaaddd_

 **Issei Simon** : _Medicine_

 **Ichigo** : _I don't need no needle to be giving me a thrill and I don't need no anesthesia or a nurse to bring a pill. I got a dirty down addiction that doesn't leave a track, I got jones for your affection like a monkey on my back. There ain't no paramedic gonna save this heart attack. What you need._

 **Issei, Simon** : _That's what you get for falling in love_

 **Ichigo** : _Then you bleed_.

 **Issei, Simon** : _You get a little but it's never enough_.

 **Ichigo** : _And when you're on your knees_.

 **Issei, Simon:** _That's what you get for falling in love_.

 **Ichigo** : _Now this boy's addicted cause your kiss is the drug. Woah ho ho_

 **Ichigo, Issei, Simon** : _Your love is like bad medicine. Bad medicine is what I need. Woah ho ho, shake it up, just like bad medicine_.

 **Ichigo** : _So let's play doctor, baby cure my disease_.

 _Baaadd Baaadd_

 **Issei** , **Simon** : _Medicine_.

 **Ichigo** : _Is what I want_.

 _Baaaddd Baaadd_

 **Issei, Simon** : _Medicine_.

 **Ichigo** : _Oh is what I need_.

Next came Ichigo's guitar solo. He made heavy use of the whammy bar as usual, all the while looking at the audience with a smirk as he pulled it off.

 **Ichigo** : _I need a respirator cause I'm running out of breath. For your all night generator wrapped in stockings and a dress. When you find your medicine you take what you can get._

 _CAUSE IF THERE'S SOMETHING BETTER BABY, WELL THEY HAVEN'T FOUND IT YET_

 **Ichigo, Issei, Simon** : _Your love is like bad medicine. Bad medicine is what I need. Woah ho ho, shake it up just like, bad medicine._

 **Ichigo** : _There ain't no doctor that can cure my disease._

 **Ichigo, Issei, Simon** : _Your love. Bad medicine. Bad medicine is what I need. Woah ho ho, shake it up just like bad medicine._

 **Ichigo** : _Your love's the potion that can cure my disease_.

 _Baaaddd Baaaddd_

 **Issei, Simon** : _Medicine_

 **Ichigo** : _Is what I want._

 _Baaaddd Baaaddd_

 **Issei, Simon** : _Medicine_.

Natsu pounded on his drums as fast as he could creating a buildup.

"We're gonna do it one more time and I want you all to sing it with us when I lift my hand," Ichigo announced to the audience, "you all ready. Now."

 **Audience** : _Your love is like bad medicine. Bad medicine is what I need. Woah ho ho, shake it up just like bad medicine. There ain't no doctor that can cure my disease._

The band finished off with playing that built up until the final chord was hit. More applause was heard as Ichigo took his guitar off and lifted it above his head giving the audience a large smile in response before walking back to Urahara to switch out.

"Hey Issei, I think I may have ran out of breath during that last song," Simon said into his microphone. He was going to add some humor to the audience to lead into something.

"Oh so you can't do the next song," Issei asked playing along with his joke.

"No I can, I just need a minute to catch my breath. Still I think the audience needs a little excitement here. What should we do?"

"How about Natsu gives them something," Lelouch said.

"Nice idea Lelouch," Issei said giving him a fist pound, "here's a little improvised track we all did together led by our good friend, Natsu Dragneel on the drums."

The song began with Issei and Simon playing back to back with Natsu right behind them. Before long they stopped and Natsu took up most of the time with his drum solo. He was incredibly fast this time as he kept up his practicing long after the album was made. All the while he kept this calm look on his face as he pulled it off. He did everything right down to the taps on the cowbell he hooked up to his set. He finished it off with help from Issei and Simon backing him up.

"So Simon is your voice feeling better," Ichigo said as he got back from his quick break.

"I don't know, guess we'll find out right now," Simon replied as he gave a signal to both Ichigo and Issei.

Issei and Ichigo played a simple set of notes together. It sounded very jazzy in comparison. When the other instruments starting to come in, beginning with Lelouch's organ preset they kept rolling up the volume knobs until they were at full gain. They still kept up the same series of notes as before, but with high gain this time. It went back to clean when the vocals came in.

 **Simon** : _The mist is slowly lifting. The sound of life misplaced your mind. You're sitting spellbound thru out time. I hope that you remember what you find. Singing more of a lifetime._

(intro repeat)

 **Simon** : _You put it down all, that I'm thinking. But take a long and distant search. When all is right, you take for granted. You can't look down, but you're no worse. Singing more of a lifetime._

The song entered in this new chorus where time time signature changed. It was then dominated by Ichigo and Issei as they switched off guitar playing. Issei couldn't help but notice but he was starting to play a lot faster than he originally intended. Ichigo took notice of it too, but he felt very glad to see his friend's playing had gotten better. The time signature went back to the portion where Simon was singing.

 **Simon** : _The countless visions that are drifting. The silver dreams you hate to lose. There's no harm. We've all been waiting. Well keep your faith. Do what you choose._  
 _Singin' more of a lifetime_

The time signature switched again and Issei and Ichigo began soloing again, even faster than before. They stood next to each other as they swapped back and forth between solos. Eventually they got back to the original opening riff and played it a couple more times before finishing the song.

The audience applauded for Soul Society once the song finished. They kept applauding again and again as they kept playing longer into the night until they were all done. Even after they finished and stayed to sign autographs for the fans, they still were incredibly overjoyed they had finished their first real concert without a hitch. It was time to take on the world now.

 **Wow I'm surprised, over 7,000 words. New record set, but will possibly be beaten very soon. I'm really sorry for the long update guys but I got serious writers block while doing this in deciding what songs to use and what to write in this. On top of that I'm getting ready to move away to college soon and I'm under a lot of pressure with preparation and dealing with moving away, but I'm feeling a lot better now and I don't intend to stop writing. As well I went back to older chapters and made some edits to fit in with newer ideas I decided to add in with the future chapters I decided on. I thank everyone for the support and the other members of the community who had given favorites to this story as it's keeping me going. I'm not gonna stop here and I'll keep going. Thank you all.**

 **All rights to the songs above belong to Dream Theater, Smashing Pumpkins, Journey, Bon Jovi, and Led Zeppelin.**


	13. Chapter 13: Life on the Tour

**Greetings everybody. Now that I'm ready, it's time for the thirteenth chapter. In this one, the group takes the road and goes on their tour for several months, all the while encountering certain things along the way. Big surprise coming up here as well that I planned from the very beginning of the story.**

 **watch?v=5SDhAEe6DKg**

 **watch?v=iP8_Dbvpi-A**

 **watch?v=wgLyGEx7dRg**

 **watch?v=-u3VEoxQLPE**

 **Chapter 13: Life on the Tour**

"Hey can you help me load this up into the trunk?"

"Okay, I got your back!"

Soul Society had just completed the concerts that took place in Japan and were getting ready to hit the road for Europe today. They had several schedules shows coming up in the next couple of days. After that they'd travel across Europe before taking a several week break before heading back on the road to North America, Australia, and then finally right back where they started in Japan.

Right now, they were packing up Naruto's car, about to head to the airport to depart for London where they'd be playing a show in three days.

"You know, I've heard that England's pretty cold this time of year," Simon said.

"Obviously," Lelouch said, "it's like November."

"Yeah you know what I mean," Simon said as he loaded up his suitcase, "You know guys, I've always dreamed of seeing all those big sites. Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, The Louvre."

"The Louvre's in Paris Simon," Lelouch corrected him, "That's a common fact everybody knows."

"Sorry, I fall asleep a lot in class," Simon shrugged.

"That's okay, I do it all the time," Natsu joked, "and I somehow manage to keep my grades up."

"Shut up Natsu," Simon shot back, "you know damn well that you suck in math class."

"Well yeah, but not in everything else," Natsu again joked.

"You know, I'm more excited about going to America," Ichigo jumped in, "All of those big attractions there like Broadway, Hollywood, Las Vegas, you name it."

"Sounds like a real blast," Issei quietly commented as he loaded up his suitcase. It would be great to go off to America, he had always wanted to see the United States. He heard there was so much amazing things they had there that they didn't have in Japan.

He then wondered about the thing Ichigo said during the interview. When he called their music "edge rock."

"Hey Ichigo, I got a question."

"What is it," he replied.

"Did you really mean that thing during the interview," he said, "when you called us an 'edge rock' group."

"Yeah of course I did," Ichigo replied, "very clever name isn't it. I figured when we started doing this kind of proggy, grunge, rock mix it was like we were on the edge of being either one. I figured that would be the proper way to describe us, and if we start to experiment more along the way we can still have that term applying to us."

"I like that idea," Issei nodded. He began to think to himself. If they were to make more albums, which quite possibly they would, adding new styles into it would be something he'd go for. However, there was the matter of coming to an agreement on doing the certain style, and if the audience would be as open to it as they would be.

"Hey are you guys ready," Naruto called from the front of the car, "our flight leaves in two hours."

"Calm down Naruto," Lelouch called back, "the airport's not even fifteen minutes away."

After they packed up the car, they all said goodbye to their families. Issei, Ichigo, and Lelouch's parents were the most sad at seeing them go.

"Please be safe Issei," his mother said as she hugged him.

"I will Mom, I'll go on Skype with you and dad every night," Issei said as he gave his mom a kiss.

"Ichigo remember to brush your teeth everyday, take a shower, and..." his mom prattled on showing him a checklist she was going to give him.

"Okay mom I got it," Ichigo said annoyed, "I'm not that irresponsible."

"I'm still going to remind you every night before you go to bed," Masaki smirked causing Ichigo to groan. He shook it off and gave her, his sisters, and dad a hug.

"Have a good time kiddo," Lelouch's dad said to him.

"I will dad," Lelouch smiled back at him.

"You gonna feel alright," he asked him. He was still concerned considering what happened during the recording sessions.

"I will, I'm not feeling bad anymore."

"That's good," he smiled back at him. They both shared a hug before Nunnally came up looking at her big brother with her cute violet eyes.

"Have fun big brother," Nunnally said with her arms outstretched. Lelouch knelt down and gave his kid sister a hug. He was definitely gonna miss her, no doubt about it. He would miss her smile, her happy attitude, everything.

"Okay enough with the formalities, let's get going we have a flight to catch," Naruto called from the front seat. Everybody boarded the vehicle, and it pulled away from their parents who gave one last wave to them which they returned. Time for the long journey.

* * *

Issei awoke in his bed, it took a moment to realize he wasn't in his bedroom as he originally thought. He was in a hotel bedroom somewhere in England. In fact they were all in a very expensive two bedroom hotel suite, paid in full by Gin. It was Simon and Natsu in one room, and Lelouch, Issei and Ichigo in the other. However, Issei saw that Ichigo and Lelouch weren't in their beds.

"Probably got up already," Issei thought to himself.

He got up from his bed and went over to the window. The room was on the highest floor, so high that he could see so much of London from the window. They had gone sight seeing every single day and probably had more to go from there.

So far, the trip was going alright. They didn't feel sick or tired at all. On the nights they had shows they would spend two to three hours at soundcheck practicing and then blow the audience away when the show came on. Best of all, they were having a great time. Last night they had just done a show at Royal Albert Hall, and they were going to leave very soon. They'd then be heading over to Italy and Paris for the next couple of European shows and then would head home for several weeks to celebrate Christmas, but then be back on the road for America, Australia, and finally back to Japan where the tour would end. After that, they hadn't fully decided what would come next but they knew one thing, they were going to catch up on a lot of school work and get a lot of sleep.

Actually Issei was feeling a little weird. He felt a slight nervousness every time they would go on stage, but it would quickly disappear by the time they started playing so he disregarded it. Still, it was a weird feeling and he didn't understand what the hell it was. No matter, they all had responsibilities now with this tour so he wouldn't worry about it right now.

Issei took a shower and then went into the den area. Sure enough everybody else was up and awake.

"Good morning sleeping beauty," Natsu taunted playfully.

"Hey everybody," Issei said, "why didn't anyone wake me up?"

"You kidding me, you were knocked out," Ichigo said, "I figured you really pushed yourself last night at that gig."

"Yeah I did," Issei scratched the back of his head, "but we get a day off now don't we."

"Mm-hmm," Lelouch nodded as he went to the fridge and got a glass of milk, "maybe we could go sightseeing today."

"Sounds like a good plan," Natsu said.

Issei saw Simon was sitting on the chair with a book in his hands. He hadn't really joined in their conversation so far, and he looked so immersed in the book.

"Hey Simon," Issei said to him. Simon looked up very quickly.

"Huh, oh hey Issei," Simon said looking up from his book before looking back at it again.

"He's been reading that book since we got here," Ichigo whispered to Issei.

"What are you reading Simon," Issei asked.

"The Bourne Identity," Simon said excitedly, "I bought it when we were at the airport and I can't stop reading it! It's friggin great, the whole thing is like you're thrown into the Twilight Zone or something, it's so cool!"

"Yeah even the movie's pretty good," Lelouch added.

"Maybe I'll see it when I get the chance," Simon said not really paying attention. He was really engrossed in that little book.

"You haven't seen the movie," Natsu shouted in disbelief.

"Afraid not," Simon said, "not enough time on my hands lately, like I said I'll probably see it when I get back home."

"You definitely got to see it," Issei said, "it is so badass."

"You know guys, I have been thinking lately," Simon put the book down for a moment, "in terms of my writing, I've mostly been doing the basic kind of stuff but I've really been interested in writing stuff from a different kind of style."

"Okay," Issei said a little confused, "what kind of style."

"Sort of science fiction, fantasy, anything inspired by literature."

Simon was very into sci-fi and fantasy especially H.G. Wells and J.R.R. Tolkien books and monster, sci-fi, and fantasy movies. Whenever they hung out, he had always been reading books and watching movies. A lot of the other guys already knew that but they thought that was just the kind of hobby he had, but they never thought he wanted to add an element of that to his lyrical content in the band. However, it could've been an interesting thing for him to pull off.

"I think it's a nice idea," Natsu said, "besides we all write different kinds of stuff anyway, so it wouldn't affect the bands repertoire if you had your own kind of style."

"Yeah, next album do a sci-fi song and see how it affects it," Lelouch said, "depending on how much time we'll get before we go in."

The doorbell to the hotel rang. Natsu got up from the table and went over to open it.

"Hey little dudes!"

It was Urahara standing in the doorstep. He looked extremely happy.

"URAHARA!"

They all ran up and gave him a group hug, which he happily welcomed.

"It's great to see you, but what are you doing here," Ichigo asked smiling.

"What I'm not allowed to visit the band I also happen to be the technician for," Urahara said, sounding offended.

"OH NO, I DIDN'T MEAN IT THAT WAY," Ichigo shouted feeling like he made Urahara upset.

"Hahaha," Urahara just laughed before patting Ichigo on the shoulder, "it's fine I was totally kidding."

"Kisuke Urahara, if he wasn't one of the coolest musicians in the entire world, than chances are he would've ended up being a hilarious comedian," Issei said.

"Damn right I would be," Urahara stated, "anyway I see you guys made it through England. Congratulations, you accomplished the first set of touring."

"Yeah we were thinking of going sight-seeing today before we leave," Lelouch said.

"That's why I'm here," he perked, "I, Kisuke Urahara, am taking you guys out today. We are going on a big daytrip through London and are going to have a good time."

"YAY," they all cheered.

"Okay don't get so overexcited," he said sternly.

"Sorry," they all said embarrassed.

Urahara suddenly went back to his normal goofy expression, "nah I'm just kidding."

* * *

They got into Urahara's car that he rented from the airport, a Mercedes Benz. A really friggin awesome car.

"So where to boys," Urahara asked from the front seat, "Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, Stonehenge, your choice."

"How about we just drive around a little, then see what happens," Simon suggested.

"Fine by me," Urahara said, "everybody else okay with that?"

They all responded yes, and with that Urahara started the car and drove. They drove all around London, seeing very cool sites in the window. Issei was enthralled by the sight. He had always had the dream of seeing the world and it was finally coming true.

"Gentlemen, I figure we turn on some music," Urahara suggested.

"Good call," Natsu responded.

Urahara switched on the radio and an R&B/soul song came on the radio. Issei was the first to recognize the song.

"Urahara it's one of your songs," Issei called out excitedly from the back seat.

"Oh yeah," Urahara realized. He sometimes had trouble remembering certain songs he had done as Tensai, especially the really old ones when he first made it big, but this one particular song was one he could never forget. "I remember, I recorded this back when I was twenty-four. I remember at the time pop was starting to become the dominant genre and I decided to join in with it, and well this was the result."

"Yeah, a lot of artists joined in with pop. Honestly, I think pop in the eighties was really good." Lelouch said.

"It's definitely better than modern day," Issei mumbled. He did mean it though, he really like eighties pop music.

"Shh," Ichigo shushed him, "I want to hear this."

 **Tensai** : _Hello it's me. I've thought about us for a long, long time. Maybe I think to much but something's wrong. There's something here that doesn't last too long. Maybe I shouldn't think of you as mine..._

Urahara seemed a little quieter when this song came on. The other guys didn't notice it at all. That was weird, he was usually a very jovial guy, maybe this song had a lot more meaning to him than it seemed.

 **Tensai** : _Seeing you, or seeing anything as much I do you. I take for granted that you're always there. I take for granted that you just don't care. Sometimes I can't help seeing all the way through._

"Hey Urahara," Issei called out from the back seat.

"What's up," he answered.

"Can I cover this song during one of our shows, I really like it and I'd like to give it homage."

"I don't see why not," he said with his usual smile, "if you want me to, I'll give you some tips so you can play it well."

"Awesome," Issei said giving a thumbs up.

"Hey guys, look outside," Natsu said pointing outside.

Outside there was a giant shopping mall with thousands of cars parked outside. The main sign read, _Westfield_. They all looked at it and thought of going in. It would be kind of nice to get some souvienors.

"You guys wanna stop here and buy some crap," Urahara asked from the front seat.

"Definitely," Issei quipped, "I'd like to get some stuff to bring back with me."

"I'm up for it," Ichigo raised his hand.

"Sure why not," Simon shrugged along with Lelouch and Natsu.

"All right then it's settled," Urahara said as he turned the car into the shopping center, "let's go."

* * *

They spent a couple hours inside the mall looking through different kinds of stores. Video game stores, clothing stores, DVD stores, food stores, and not surprisingly, music stores. Karakura Town didn't have malls as big as this one, it was clear that these guys had definitely ventured into uncharted territory.

Right now Issei was in the clothes store with Simon and Lelouch looking around trying to find something for his mother. It was going to be Christmas in a month soon and he wanted to get her something really nice.

"Think my mom would like this," Issei asked Simon holding up a blue blouse.

"I don't know, I'm not a fashionista," Simon joked.

"Well neither am I," Issei said defensively, " I can never understand how girls dress at all, but I'm still the good little boy in the family so I'm going to get her something nice."

"How touching," Simon said sarcastically.

"You're a jerk you know that," Issei said.

"You know it," Simon smirked.

"Hey guys," Lelouch called from the other side of the store. They ran over to where he was, in the T-shirts section.

"What is it," Simon asked.

"Check out this cool shirt I found," Lelouch said before holding it up, "what do you guys think?"

It was a white medium sized short sleeved shirt with text and a picture of a chess piece at the top. The text on the shirt read "Hail to the King Baby".

"That is really badass looking," Simon complimented.

"Issei, what do you think?"

Issei was trying so hard to stifle a chuckle from looking at this ridiculous T-shirt. But after a few moments he just gave up and burst out laughing hysterically, he was so loud that most of the people in the store could see him.

"What, what's so funny," Lelouch demanded to know.

"That line is just so stupid," Issei said between laughter.

"No it's not it's badass," Simon defended Lelouch.

"Hail to the king baby," Issei chortled at Simon, "you've got to be kidding me, I've heard better lines on cereal boxes, I mean come on dude."

Simon elbowed him, "don't listen to him Lelouch, you should totally buy it. It could be like your signature look when we perform."

"Yeah you're right," Lelouch thought to himself, "but probably once it gets warmer out, it's freezing right now."

"No kidding," Issei added while shivering.

"LITTLE HELP OVER HERE," they heard Natsu called.

They looked over and saw Natsu and Ichigo had gotten cornered by a bunch of fans outside the video game store.

"Oh boy," Issei groaned, "we better help."

They ran over to the crowd and tried to push their way in. Unfortunately for them, the crowd also recognized them and began hounding them as well. Asking them for autographs, questions, the works. All of a sudden they were pulled out from the crowd.

Urahara had come to their rescue. Just like the nicest guy he was, he saved their asses yet again.

"Alright everybody," Urahara shouted to the crowd, "these little dudes need their personal space so let them be. They're regular people just like you."

The crowd dispensed and went off to do their shopping.

"You saved us," Ichigo panted, "thanks Urahara."

"That's why I'm your mentor right," Urahara smiled, "come on let's go get some more things and head back to sight-seeing."

They followed Urahara together as they continued the rest of their shopping.

That night Issei logged onto Skype to talk with their parents, both on separate computers.

"You having fun honey," Issei's mom asked.

"Oh yeah it's great Mom," Issei responded, "a lot of fun."

"That's good to hear. Well keep it up. You know our father and I are rooting for you right?"

"I sure do," Issei nodded.

"I love you honey."

"I love you too mom," Issei said as he turned off his laptop and went to bed. Tomorrow they were heading back out on the road again.

* * *

It was the middle of December finally. Soul Society had finished the European shows and were home on sabbatical for a while. While they were gone, it had started snowing in Karakura Town, three feet to be exact. So when they got back the first thing they'd obviously do was have fun in it.

Right now all the members were up at the park sledding on the hills. They were all dressed in heavy winter clothing, it was close to 15 degrees outside. Simon was at the top of the hill getting ready to sled down.

"Come on Simon," Lelouch called from the bottom of the hill.

"What are you holding us up for," Natsu called out as well, "are you scared?"

"No way man," Simon called back as he got into position, "one, two, three, ALLEYOOP!"

Simon's sled came down the hill very fast. He was cheering loudly as he got closer and closer to the bottom. All the while the other cheered him on.

"WOO-HOO, THIS IS AWESOME," Simon called out before the unexpected happened, "OH CRAP!"

His sled turned over to the side unexpectedly and Simon fell off, rolling down to the bottom of the hill. Luckily the sled didn't hit him and he made it down without hitting any rocks or bumps. The other guys ran over to him as he lay face up on the ground. His eyes were wide open.

"Think he's alright," Ichigo asked worriedly.

"Looks like he's fine," Lelouch said, "he's probably a little bit shaken."

"Simon you okay," Issei asked as he tried to shake him. Natsu shoved Issei aside and grabbed Simon by the shoulders and started frantically shaking him while yelling in his face.

"SIMON CAN YOU HEAR ME BUDDY, WHATEVER YOU DO DON'T GO TO THE LIGHT," Natsu yelled while shaking him.

"Will you cut that out," Ichigo scolded Natsu.

"Thaaaaat...waaaaas...aaaaaaaaAAAAAAWWWWEEEESSSOMMMMMEEE" Simon screamed at the top of his lungs in excitement, "LET'S DO IT AGAIN! LET'S DO IT AGAIN!"

"Same old Simon," Issei sighed as he adjusted his winter hat and scarf, "always looking for fun."

"Well well well, what's up rockers?"

They all turned and saw Naruto standing off on the side of the road, he was wearing a large peacoat and his Lamborghini was parked on the side of the road.

"Naruto," Issei smiled as he walked towards them, "it's great to see you again."

"Mm-hmm, sure is good to see you all too," he said as he was walking, "happy holidays."

"Happy Holidays," they all said back.

"So you guys feeling a little tired out from the touring," he asked.

"Not really," Ichigo said as he adjusted his winter cap, "we were a little tired when we got back, and of course we had to adjust to the time zone difference, but overall I'd say we had a very good time."

"Great, you'll have to be ready though," Naruto reminded, "once the new year rolls around it's back on the road, you guys are heading for America."

"AMERICA, HECK YEAH," they all cheered, mimicking the line from Team America: World Police. Of course, censoring out the swear words.

"Okay quit the South Park references," Naruto said, "I meant to tell you guys I was checking on reviews of the tour. The large majority of them were positive but there were a couple negative ones in there."

"So," Natsu shrugged, "what's the big deal."

"They keep saying that you guys are unoriginal, and extremely pretentious, don't you guys find that a little bit insulting? I've seen you guys perform multiple times. You're all exceptionally talented so I don't know what these people are talking about."

"It's honestly not that big of a deal Naruto," Lelouch said.

"Everybody has their own opinions, and if there are people that don't like us then it's no big deal. I think that's fine because they at least can have an opinion and I respect them for giving it," Ichigo explained, "not every reviewer or critic is going to be nice on something, you just need to accept the reviews and keep on going. If you get upset about it, then you just end up looking immature."

"This has been a quote by Ichigo Kurosaki," Issei said in a serious deep voice.

"Thanks for that buddy," Ichigo said giving his best friend a wink.

"Well, I appreciate your optimism," Naruto said, "but be aware there's going to be much more coming, I assure you. Well I guess I'll be on my way, have a Merry Christmas," Naruto said as he started to walk back to the Lamborghini.

"Merry Christmas," they all waved goodbye as he drove off.

"You think he's right," Simon asked, "I mean doesn't it get bothersome if people are calling us pretentious."

"What can you say man," Issei shrugged with a grin, "haters gonna hate."

"Come on, let's go back to my place," Lelouch suggested, "my mom's making hot cocoa."

"Alright, I could go for a cup of it," Natsu said excitedly.

They picked up their sleds and trudged all the way back to Lelouch's house in the snow.

* * *

It was Christmas Day already. Issei got up from his bed and looked outside. It was still snowing a little bit, but the roads were clear from the snow plow. Everything looked so beautiful, the falling snowflakes and the icicles hanging from the garage. He then hopped out of his bed and ran downstairs to the living room.

"Mom, Dad," he called out excitedly.

In the living room, Issei's mom and dad were sitting next to each other on the couch. The Christmas tree was lit up and there were presents laying under the tree.

"Merry Christmas son," Issei's father said with a smile.

"Merry Christmas honey," his mom also said.

Issei went over and sat down with his parents. He felt like a little kid again, sitting with his parents.

"You guys are so great," Issei said as he cuddled with them.

"Only the best for our little rock star," Issei's mom said lovingly. That comment made Issei feel a little weird, especially considering he was sort of a rock star already. That didn't matter, he wasn't going to be seen like that when he was home in Karakura Town. He was going to be plain old Issei Hyoudou, a fifteen year old high school student.

After a day of opening presents, playing and goofing around, Issei and his family got ready for the guests to come over. All of his family came over, as well as Ichigo, Simon, Lelouch and Natsu along with their parents. The house surprisingly managed to fill up the entire amount of people coming in.

It was a blast. They did all the things everybody would expect to do on Christmas morning. Issei and his friends were in a group opening presents from his grandmother. Issei opened the box and inside was a cool leather jacket.

"That looks so cool," Simon remarked.

"Thanks grandma," Issei said as he held it up.

"It was your grandpa's idea Issei, not mine," she remarked.

"I gotta admit Issei," Natsu said, "you're family is awesome."

"Yeah, they're actually the kind of family you don't feel embarrassed about," Lelouch said.

"Who said I wasn't, I mean don't get me wrong I love my family, it's just they can get a little embarrassing at times," Issei remarked.

"So can mine," Ichigo jumped in, "but it never bothers me."

"Everybody quiet down," Issei's father called out. Everybody in the room suddenly went quiet at the announcement, "so considering today is Christmas and as usual with tradition, I believe it is now time for Issei to do his Christmas performance for us all."

"See what I mean," Issei said with a frown.

It had become tradition for Issei to sing a song for them every year since he was little, usually with a guitar or piano accompaniment. He would sing every Christmas song known to man, it would be embarrassing to think about it nowadays but it was still a fond bunch of memories for him.

"Do you guys wanna help me out with this," Issei asked his friends quietly.

"No way man," Ichigo remarked, "this is your family, this is your time to shine."

"Okay, let's do it," Issei said as he stood up and walked to the room where the grand piano was. He took a seat and warmed up for a second, playing random keys and clearing his throat. Everybody gathered around him and got ready for him to play. Issei began to feel that slight feeling of nervousness that he had been feeling before every show they had done during the

"Okay, this one is a classic I think everyone knows, and it always has a place in my heart. This is "The Christmas Song" and I'm doing it for you," Issei said with a smile.

Issei played the intro chords and notes on the piano, it was slightly different than how the original version was and less complex as Issei wasn't particularly a fast piano player at all. After the intro, then came the singing.

 **Issei** : _Chesnuts roasting on an open fire, Jack Frost nipping at your nose. Yuletide carols, being sung by a choir, and children dressed up like Eskimos._

Everybody in that room became like statues at the sound of Issei's soulful and melodic voice singing this classic Christmas song.

 **Issei** : _Everybody knows, a turkey and some mistletoe. Help to make the season bright. Tiny tots, with their eyes all aglow. Will find it hard to sleep tonight. They know Santa's on his way. He's loaded lots of toys and goodies on his sleigh. And every mother's child is gonna spy, to see if reindeer really know how to fly. And so I'm offering this simple phrase, to kids from one to ninety-two. Although it's been said, many times man ways, Merry Christmas...to you._

Issei took the next couple of measures to play some of the piano and take a breather from the singing. His band members stood there in awe at this. Issei was exceptionally talented without a doubt, not to mention he really had a soulful approach that none of them really had. That's probably why he was perfect as a member in the band.

 **Issei** : _And so I'm offering this simple phrase, to kids from one to ninety-two. Although it's been said, many times many ways, Merry Christmas... to you._

After the last couple of notes which sounded like Jingle Bells, he finished the song and got up from the piano, taking a bow. Everybody there applauded loudly as Issei stood there smiling. That nervous feeling he had went away yet again. However, he didn't feel bothered at all. He was happy and content, just like he should be.

* * *

Soul Society got back out on the road a week following New Year's and were now in America. In between doing several shows they got to see the sights, America really was a cool place like everybody had said.

Right now they were in San Francisco having just done a gig the previous night and were doing sightseeing. Of course the reporters were going to interview them. It would be slightly hard since they didn't understand English all that well, but luckily they got a Japanese reporter to talk with them and the interview would have subtitles on the news.

The reporter was out on the streets of San Francisco about to do the interview. It was around 68 degrees outside, very funny considering it was January.

"In recent news a new band by the name of Soul Society have conducted their first world tour and have undertaken several countries already. Last night they played a show here, and here they are now seeing the amazing sights San Francisco has to offer," the reporter said to the camera before walking over to the band. They were all overlooking the sights outside, dressed in summer clothes because of how warm it was.

"Hello boys, may I take you to a more attractive part of town," the reporter asked.

"But I thought this was it," Lelouch joked on camera. They walked with the reporter as he asked them questions.

"So how has the tour been treating you guys so far, you've been out for nearly three months now right?"

"Oh it's great," Ichigo said with a happy tone, "all the gigs we've done have been so fun and the people have been so great. We're having a blast."

"Have you all had any difficulties yet?"

"Not really," Simon said, "the only real problem was just getting tired but overall it's nothing negative."

"So in terms of the performance, do you guys always come out with so much energy?"

"Definitely," Natsu said, "the energy's always been there from day one, the only thing we didn't have were the lights, large stage and really good equipment. But energy was definitely there. We always want to be energetic rather than stoic because we want the audience to get the excitement factor."

"So what kind of audience do you guys like the most, most times people like a loud and wild audience but what do you prefer?"

"We like an audience that listens," Issei explained, "we like an audience that'll either become excited or sing along with the music or will sit quietly and take it in instead of not paying attention and texting on their phones, sending emails and checking their Facebook status."

"So you guys have any plans after this tour?"

"Yeah, sleeping, " Lelouch remarked, "and getting back into school, I'm betting that our teachers are gonna give us a butt load of homework when we get back."

"Also we hope to be able to continue from here," Ichigo said, "maybe make another album and do another tour depending on how everything goes I guess."

"Okay that sounds nice, you guys have any last things to say to the audience before we go?"

"Hey everybody, keep on rocking," they said to the camera with smiles.

* * *

A couple more weeks followed with the band finishing up America, traveling to Australia, Canada, and finally they were back where they started in Japan. After this they could finally go home and get back into normal life.

They were playing at the same place they started and it was again a packed house. Lelouch started the music for the song. He used a piano preset on his keyboards to play this next song.

 **Lelouch** : _Come waste your millions here, secretly she said. Another corporate show, a guilty conscience grows. I'll feel a guilty conscience grow...I'll feel a guilty conscience grow._

(Music gets a lot louder)

 _She burns like the sun, I can't look away. She (falsetto) burns our horizons, make no mistake._

The music shifted back to the initial calm opening that they started with as they moved into the next verse. The original piano preset came back as they went into the second verse. Ichigo also played clean notes on his guitar in coordination with the piano notes Lelouch was playing.

 **Lelouch** : _Come let the truth be shared. No one ever dared. To break these endless lies. Secretly she cries._

(Chorus comes in again)

 _She burns like the sun, I can't look away. She (falsetto) burns our horizons, make no mistake._

The guitar solo came in done by Issei, who did it in the most idiosyncratic way possible. He took a guitar slide and slowly move it up the fretboard while tremolo picking the high string as fast as he could. He removed the slide for a second and then did the notes with his fretting hand a second later.

 **Lelouch** : _And I'll hide forever. Behind a broken frame. And I'll (falsetto) burn forever. I can't face the shame._

 _And I'll hide forever. Behind a broken frame. And I'll (falsetto) burn forever. I can't face the shame._

To finish off the song, Lelouch did very complex piano arpeggios.

The next song, Issei went over to his grand piano on the right side of the stage. He began to play along with Ichigo, who did a Hendrix like blues chord structure, further solidifying Jimi Hendrix as his number one inspiration.

 **Issei** : _When the lights, go down in the city. And the sun shines on, the bay. Do I want to be there, in my city. Oh-woah. Ohhhhhhhh._

 _So you think, you're lonely. Well my friend I'm lonely to. I want to get back, to my City by the bay-yay._

 **Issei, Ichigo, Lelouch, Simon:** Oh-woah- oh oh oh.

For the next part of the song, Issei got up from the piano and moved around the stage with only the microphone in his hand. It was strange, he had never sung without playing an instrument at the same time, but for this particular song, he wanted to put more emphasis on the singer inside of him.

 **Issei** : _It's sad, oh. There's been mornings, out on the road without you. Without your charms. Ooh. My, my my._

 **Issei, Ichigo, Lelouch, Simon** : Oh-woah-oh oh oh

When the lights, go down in the city. And the light shines on, the bay.

 **Issei** : Do I want to be there, in my city. Oh-woah.

 **Issei, Ichigo, Lelouch, Simon** : Oh-woah-oh oh oh.

Ichigo did his blues inspired guitar solo while Issei stood right next to him and watched him as he did it. The solo was different than Ichigo's usual shred style but again, as a Hendrix fan he was definitely going to play in his style which included anything related to blues.

 **Issei, Ichigo, Lelouch, Simon** : _When the lights, go down in the city. And the light shines on, the bay._

 **Issei** : _Do I want to be there, in my city. Oh-woah_.

 **Issei, Ichigo, Lelouch, Simon** : _Oh-woah-oh oh oh._

As the audience applauded. Issei waved to the audience before hitting some random notes on the piano as a quick warm up.

"This next song is favorite of all of ours," Issei said at the piano, "it was written by a good friend of ours who you all may know as the multi-talented Tensai. He's been a great friend to us and helped us all in getting where we are. This is his song called "Hello It's Me".

Issei began to play the simple piano portion of the song with backing help from Lelouch on the organ, Simon on the bass, Ichigo on the guitar, and Natsu on the drums. They tried as best they could to keep it as close to the original version as they possibly could.

 **Issei** : _Hello it's me, I've thought about us for a long, long time. Maybe I think too much but something's wrong, there's something here that doesn't last too long._

Despite how poppy the sound sounded, the audience didn't really seem to mind, they also sang along to it.

 **Issei** : _Seeing you, or seeing anything as much as I do. I take for granted that you're always there. I take for granted that you just don't care. Sometimes I can't help seeing all the way through._

 **Issei, Ichigo, Lelouch** : _It's important to me. That you know you are free. Cause I never want to make you change for me._

Urahara stood on the sidelines of the stage watching his close friends perform his song. He looked down at the floor and closed his eyes as he eyes began to fill up with tears. This song really meant a lot to him and he felt really honored that they were doing this for him.

 **Issei** : _Think of me. You know that I'd be with you if I could. I'll come around to see you once in a while. Or if I ever need a reason to smile. And spend the night if you think I should._

 **Issei, Ichigo, Lelouch** : _It's important to me. That you know you are free. Cause I never want to make you change for me._

 **Issei** : _Think of me. You know that I'd be with you if I could. I'll come around to see you once in a while. Or if I ever need a reason to smile. And spend the night if you think I should._

 **Issei:** _Think of me...Think of me...Think of me._

Same old applause came from the audience as usual as Issei got up from the piano. They all departed from the stage finishing up their show. Urahara quickly wiped away his tears before they came to see him. They didn't know how emotional he had gotten during that song.

* * *

They all sat at a table outside of the Tokyo International Forum signing autographs for all the fans. It was fun to see the fans, they were all very nice and welcoming.

"This is very fun isn't it," Lelouch said turning to Simon after he signed another autograph.

"Definitely," Simon responded.

Issei felt really happy right now. He was meeting so many nice fans and just finished a great tour. As he finished signing another autograph for a fan, he looked up and saw something heading towards them. It looked like it was a man running towards the table.

"Who is that," Issei thought to himself. As the person got closer to the table, Issei managed to get a good look at his face and his eyes went wide in shock, "oh please God no."

WHACK

Issei's vision went completely blurry and his chair fell back throwing him to the ground. His head hurt so much and he was feeling himself getting whacked by something over and over. He heard muffled voices but he couldn't make out what they were saying because he was so disorientated. He realized immediately what had happened, he had just been punched. By who?

Riser.

Ichigo, Lelouch, Simon, and Natsu saw Issei get punched by Riser. Their eyes grew wide in shock as they saw him fall back in his chair. All of the fans that came to sign autographs were suddenly screaming and running around in panic at what had just transpired.

"ISSEI," Lelouch screamed out.

All of sudden Riser got on top of him and started to hit him repeatedly all the while screaming.

"YOU DIDN'T DESERVE THIS, I'M BETTER THAN YOU, I'VE ALWAYS BEEN BETTER THAN YOU!"

Ichigo lost it here. He got up and jumped on top of Riser's back trying to get him to stop.

"YOU SON OF A BITCH," Ichigo screamed out in anger, "GET OFF OF HIM, LET HIM GO!"

Riser threw Ichigo off of his back and began to lay some punches on him as well, screaming the same things over and over again. Simon, Lelouch, and Natsu joined in the fight trying to stop Riser, but he was still way stronger than them.

Issei began to get his vision back. He had gotten a black eye and a bloody nose from the punches. He then looked and saw what was going on. Riser was beating up his friends who just tried to save him. Right now he was laying punches on Simon who was trying to block them. Issei was done. Riser could beat him around all he wanted but to hurt his friends. No way.

"YOU BASTARD," he screamed out as he ran towards Riser and suddenly socked him in the face, sending him to the ground. He then got on top of him and began to punch repeatedly as hard as he could. All those years of verbal abuse during guitar lessons came back in his mind and began to finally disappear as he hit harder and harder each time.

Riser got his strength back and pushed Issei away from him who got back on his feet very quickly.

"YOU DON'T EVER HURT MY FRIENDS," Issei screamed, "DO YOU HEAR ME YOU SON OF A BITCH!?"

"YOU DON'T DESERVE ANY OF THIS! I WORKED HARDER! I'M BETTER THAN YOU OR YOUR LITTLE LOSER FRIENDS! THIS SHOULD BE ME!"

Amidst the crowds of people screaming and yelling he could hear what Riser was saying to him.

"NO YOU'RE NOT," Issei screamed back at him, "YOU'RE A HACK, A DEADBEAT, A LOSER! THAT'S ALL YOU ARE AND EVER WILL BE RISER!"

Riser was about to mess up Issei further when all of a sudden, Urahara appeared. He grabbed Riser by the collar of his shirt and pulled him face to face with him.

"What did I say to you," he threateningly said to his face. Before they all knew it, Urahara began to beat the crap out of Riser. Using amazing martial arts moves he laid both punches and kicks on Riser faster than anybody could ever see. Issei watched without any words as Urahara messed up Riser even further.

"You alright Issei," Natsu asked walking towards him. He saw that they got beaten pretty bad too. He felt horrible, it was all because of him that they ended up this way.

Suddenly, Naruto appeared next to him and began to push them away from the crowds of people who were panicking.

"We have to leave now before things get even worse," Naruto whispered to them as he motioned them to his car.

"Really, it's not worse already," Simon yelled in disbelief.

They all got inside the car and were taken away from the seen. Everything here, really could have gone much better.

 **Wow that was a dramatic ending, but that was planned from the very beginning like I said. Sorry for the late update guys. I just started college and I'm majoring in TV/Film and as you can guess I'm very busy. I really want to continue work on this series and I definitely will, but I have to tell you that it's going to be very few updates for a long time until I have more room to breathe. That's college life for ya.**

 **Not only that but recently I got into two different animes. Eureka Seven and Fullmetal Alchemist and I began to wonder what the story would be like with the main characters in the places of the Highschool DxD and Bleach characters. This idea has been floating around for a long time but I don't feel like doing this now considering I'm so far in the story. I'd like to hear what you guys think of this idea and offer suggestions to if I should edit the story with those characters instead or just do a different re-write after I finish this story. I'm open to whatever suggestions you guys make.**

 **Hope you're all doing well, thank you for all your support and keep being awesome.**

 **All rights to the songs above belong to Nat King Cole, Journey, Todd Rundgren, and Muse.**


	14. Chapter 14: Back to Normal Life

**So welcome to the next chapter. So as you can probably tell from the title, the guys get back from the tour and try to readjust to normal life again, especially after what has happened with the ending of the tour. Will they be able to? Probably not, but let's see because you never know.**

 **watch?v=lJ9WLOra3CY**

 **Chapter 14: Back to Normal Life**

 _In recent news, the teenage rock band Soul Society concluded their first world tour today at the Tokyo International Forum. They spent several months performing in support of their debut album From Humble Beginnings that was released almost four months ago, touring most of America, Europe and Asia._

 _However, while they were signing autographs, a concert goer ran to the table and punched guitarist and vocalist Issei Hyoudou in the face._

 _"He just ran up and started whaling on this kid for no reason shouting things like 'you don't deserve this' and crap like that," a concert goer said._

 _A large fight broke out between the man and the members. The group's technician stepped into the fight and beat the man before the band quickly separated from the scene and left the Forum with their manager Naruto Uzumaki._

 _The man who started the attack was taken into custody and has been charged with assault. We will not give his name now due to Uzumaki wishing to keep any information about the attack confidential._

 _Right now, the band has not commented on the current situation, but we expect that they would want their privacy respected at this time._

* * *

They had all gathered back at Ichigo's house following the major fight. They were all in the living room with Masaki getting their injuries treated with ice and medicine.

"This may sting a little Ichigo," Masaki said before applying medicine to a cut on his arm.

"Oww," he groaned when the stinging feeling came through, "a little!? Mom that stung a lot!"

"Sorry," Masaki said with a smirk.

"Hey guys," Issei said with an ice pack on his black eye, "I'm really so..."

"Don't say it," Lelouch interrupted him suddenly, "don't even thing about saying it Issei."

"Wha?"

"Yeah you don't have to say you're sorry for anything," Simon said firmly as he put an ice pack over his head, "none of this was your fault."

"But if it wasn't for me, Riser wouldn't have attacked us," Issei insisted that he apologize.

"It was inevitable," Natsu shook his head, "even if we didn't see him outside of Tiburon, he still would've found out we got a deal anyway. None of this had anything to do with you at all. It was going to happen no matter what any of us did."

"Still, I feel like I caused it somehow."

"You shouldn't feel that way," Masaki said turning to Issei, "you had no control over what happened. Besides all those fans are probably worried about you guys right now and are wishing you all the best."

"Especially the fangirls," Ichigo joked.

"Hehehehe, yeah you're right," Issei chuckled quietly, "speaking of which, I better post something on the Facebook page to assure everyone we're fine. We don't want them on our asses again."

"Good idea," Lelouch said.

Later when he was back at his house Issei got on the Facebook page later that night and posted a message from the band to the entire audience. It read...

 _This is to all the fans who came to see us throughout the tour these past couple of months. We thank you all for your support and for being a great audience who kept us motivated throughout the tour._

 _We're sure a lot of you are feeling very uneasy about the events that took place at the Tokyo International Forum following our final show. We want to assure you that we are definitely fine and there is no need to worry._

 _Also we wish to not comment on the events that took place at this time because we are not comfortable speaking about what had happened. We would simply like to just move on from this and keep working as a band giving you all music to enjoy._

 _Again thank you all for your support and keep being the great audience you guys are._

 _Sincerely_ _,_

 _The Members of Soul Society_

Issei felt better from posting that. But now there were some things he wanted to focus on now. Getting back into living a normal life in Karakura Town. That was definitely going to be a hard task to pull off.

* * *

After getting a lot of sleep and recovering from his wounds, Issei went back into school the following week. He still had some cuts and bruises on his face, but he had healed up nicely for the most part. He tried to keep his head held high as he walked through the hallways, but everybody was looking at him. Giving him smiles, winks, thumbs up, and a couple jealous glares here and there (haters gonna hate). Luckily he wasn't thrown into a giant pit of fangirls like before.

It was already mid-February, close to March. He dreaded how much homework his teachers would give him and while there was a good amount, it definitely was far from being completed. In fact his teachers were actually happy that he made it on a world tour. It was cool to have teachers who were lenient like that.

After much consideration, Issei decided to go to the auditorium and see Rias. They hadn't talked for so long, except on text.

He started heading in that direction not really paying attention to anything around him. All of a sudden he felt himself bump into somebody. Issei immediately snapped back to reality and realized he just bumped into somebody.

"Oh geez, I'm so sorry," he apologized, "I didn't mean to bump into you."

"It's okay don't worry about it," the kid said as he got up.

Issei and the kid looked each other straight in the eyes. The kid looked to be about fourteen or so and had brown hair. He looked to be slightly shorter than Issei was and he wasn't wearing the traditional Kuoh Academy uniform but a button up shirt with black pants.

"Wow, what are the odds I'd run into you," the kid said. Issei immediately realized what he was talking about.

"Uh yeah I guess so," he scratched the back of his head before reaching out his hand for a handshake, "I'm Issei Hyoudou."

"Nice to meet you, I'm Shinji Ikari," he said as the two of them shook hands.

"So are you new here," Issei asked.

"Yeah I just transferred here from my last school," Shinji said, "I'm actually wondering do you know where the principals office is, I want to sign up for clubs but I don't know where it is."

"Yeah, it's down the hall third door on the left," Issei said showing him the direction.

"Okay thanks," Shinji said before he went.

"See you around sometime?"

"Yeah sure," Shinji called back.

Issei smiled a bit. That guy seemed like a nice person. He was a little annoyed though that he immediately recognized him as the kid who just toured the world. Whatever, he shouldn't be making a big deal out of it anyway.

Walking in to the auditorium, there was nobody in there at all. Nobody on the stage, at the soundboard, anywhere. Where the hell was everybody? Then again, theater wasn't really open at this time.

For a couple minutes, Issei walked around the stage. After getting to play the lead in How to Succeed a couple months back, he couldn't wait to start acting in the plays again. Rias had so much planned out that there was no telling who else he could play.

"So you're back."

Issei then saw Rias standing on the other side of the stage. She had on her usual smile as she walked closer to him.

"Rias, yeah I'm finally back," Issei responded scratching the back of his head.

"So the tour how was it," Rias asked playfully.

"It was great," he said excitedly, "we got to go to America, England, Italy, Australia. Rias I got to see the world for the first time."

"Yeah but then there was that other thing," Rias said a little less happy than usual.

"Yeah there's that," Issei said also a little less happy than he was, "I don't really want to talk about it right now, alright?"

"I understand and I won't ask about it," Rias assured him, "I just wanted to make sure that you were alright is all."

"I'm definitely fine," he said, "right now, I just want to be back home and start being a kid again."

"You know that's gonna be difficult Issei," Rias said, "you took the whole world by storm. People are going to be after you day and night. Especially all the girls here at Kuoh Academy. I'll tell you a lot of the girls here were planning on jumping you when you got back."

"Believe me, I know," Issei responded. He remembered what Ichigo had said about all the fangirls being worried about him. "Anyway, how's everything with the theater been so far?"

"We didn't do any musicals while you were gone, the theater department head wanted to stick to regular acting productions for the majority of the winter season," Rias explained, "as soon as spring rolls around we're going to bring the musicals back, and Issei, I want you to act and sing in them."

"That's actually why I came to see you," Issei smiled, "I gave it much thought after we did How to Succeed. I rediscovered how much love I had for musical theater. I want to do it all again when I'm not playing with the band."

"That's the spirit," Rias pat him on the back.

"So how's the guitar playing been going," Issei asked. He really wanted to see Rias at the guitar again. Since discovering her virtuoso talent on the instrument that beat both him and Ichigo, he really wanted to see more of it.

"It's going great, I'm still playing, but I'm still not gonna tell you that surprise I had planned for you," she smirked evilly.

"AWWW COME ON," Issei whined, "I was on the road for four months can you give me some kind of hint, clue, or something. You're building this thing up and it's eating me up!"

"Well I'm sorry, you'll probably be eaten alive by the time you find out," Rias playfully noted, "I promise you though, it won't take any longer from now on."

"It better, I'm getting very impatient," Issei pouted.

"Come on, let me tell you what I'm planning for the next show," she said before taking him to over to the soundboard.

Issei walked home from school that day, a little tired but feeling alright. There was still some snow on the ground and it was freezing outside. He initially thought they would be done the tour when spring rolled around but they still didn't. He was glad to be home that was it.

He walked inside his house, threw off his winter coat, went upstairs and got changed into casual clothes. Issei then laid down on his bed and began to think of all that had happened recently. The album, the tour, and Riser. Another thing on his mind was that twinge of nervousness he kept feeling before every show.

It was a small feeling, but it had gotten more frequent. It wasn't controlling him in any way, but he could feel it whenever he had to do a performance. He just hoped that his old anxiety issues weren't coming back to him. God knows he never wanted to go through those again, they had caused him so much pain and sadness before. Then again, it probably wasn't that.

But going back to all the success that he, Ichigo, Lelouch, Simon and Natsu had accomplished, he was surprised at how fast they had accomplished this in the first place. But also the fact that they were all major celebrities now.

He made it very clear to himself that he would not be viewed as a celebrity. He was a normal person just like everybody else, and he wanted to be viewed as such, nothing more or less. Still he did want to record and play out on the tour again. It was so much fun to see all those people in the audience and to explore different musical ideas when they were together. But what was he going to do now?

He was home, it was too cold outside to do anything, he had nothing to do, and he didn't really wanna do a whole lot. He laid on his bed staring at the ceiling before his eyes started to grow heavy.

They grew much heavier and eventually he closed them an drifted off into a nap. He stayed there on his bed sleeping for a long time before he heard his mother calling him down for dinner.

"Issei, time for dinner!"

"Okay mom," he said as he got up from bed and walked downstairs.

* * *

"Where it it?"

Lelouch went down into the city trying to remember the address for Kallen's house.

He really was looking forward to seeing her again. While on the tour, he kept counting the days until they were back home so he could see her again. Even though he was home for Christmas, he didn't get a full amount of time. Also he didn't have her phone number so he had no way of contacting her.

They hadn't gotten a lot of chances to talk before he left for the tour, except for that time when they were outside the supermarket and he walked her home.

"Let's see, it has to be one of these townhouses somewhere," he looked around getting frustrated at not being able to find the right house, "damn it, why do all these houses have to look the same."

 _"I took my love and took it down. I climbed a mountain and I turned around. And I saw my reflection in the snow covered hills, till a landslide brought me down."_

Lelouch became captivated by that soulful soprano voice again as he stood there like a statue. He closed his eyes and took in the words she sang before he snapped back to reality.

 _"_ Well what a coincidence," Lelouch said to himself as he followed the singing until he came to the right townhouse.

 _"Well I've been afraid of changing, because I built my life around you. But time makes you bolder. Children get older and I'm getting older too."_

"Alright I finally found it," Lelouch whispered excitedly as he walked up to the house.

He stood at the door and began to mentally prepare himself. He was nervous without a doubt.

"Okay buddy, you can do this," he said in his head, "just be nice and answer any questions she's got for you. It's that simple."

He raised his hand and slowly knocked at the door. He waited a couple moments until it opened. When it did, he saw Kallen standing right before him. She was dressed in a sweater with a cat in the middle of it and short-shorts. She was barefoot too, despite how cold it was outside, but the house was probably really warm.

"Lelouch, hi," Kallen said with a smile, "it's so good to see you again."

"It's good to see you too Kallen," Lelouch said also smiling.

"How was the tour," she asked.

"Long," Lelouch joked, "but it was fun."

"Are you feeling okay," she asked.

"Wh..what do you mean," he nervously replied.

"I saw what happened at the last show," she said, "I was there."

"Oh yeah," Lelouch said feeling disappointed she had to be there when that happened, "you don't have to worry about it, I'm doing alright."

"Okay, I understand if you don't want to talk about," Kallen said, "I just wanted to make sure if you were alright."

"I am," he nodded.

"What about the other guy?"

"What other guy," Lelouch asked.

"The other guitarist in the band, he took a lot of the punches," Kallen tried to explain.

"Oh you mean Issei," Lelouch said, "I talked to him an hour ago on text, he's doing alright. He really doesn't want to talk about it though. Is it okay if we move on?"

Lelouch really wanted to change the subject. He felt it nice that people were showing genuine concern for them all, but he really didn't think they needed to worry about it constantly. It happened, just get it over with.

"So umm," she tried to find the words, "why'd you come?"

"I...well...I was thinking," he couldn't find the words either. He was just as nervous as she was, "Do you maybe wanna hang out tonight?"

"Sure, I'd be happy to," she answered with a smile. Lelouch breathed a sigh of relief, he was completely afraid of being rejected, "would you like to hang out here with me? My mom's working late tonight."

"Yeah, I'm fine with that."

For the next couple hours, Lelouch and Kallen hung around her house. They watched a movie, sung some songs together from Kallen's record player, and talked, mostly about how the tour was for Lelouch. Of course, excluding the one minor detail that was brought up before.

"So you guys got caught in a shopping mall by fangirls," Kallen laughed at the story Lelouch told.

"Yeah it was in England," Lelouch explained, "Issei, Simon and I were in a clothing store and right outside Ichigo and Natsu immediately got assaulted with them. Luckily our man Urahara came to the rescue. He's an awesome guy, and a brilliant musician too."

"Really?"

"Yeah he was popular in the eighties as a multi-talented singer-songwriter named Tensai. We're all fans of his work and we covered one of his songs."

"Oh that's cool," Kallen said, "I gotta admit being at that show, it was very lively. Most people don't have that much energy."

"Well we wanted to get the audience riled up a little bit, that's what being a band is," Lelouch said smiling.

"So what are you guys gonna do now," Kallen asked.

"I don't know," Lelouch said as he thought about it, "I figure we'll go back into the studio with Rukia again and make a new album, but for the time being I think it best that we just relax and take it easy. It's been three months out on the road and I want to go back to my regular life."

"I understand, I guess it does get stressful touring," Kallen said nodding her head.

"Well it wasn't really stressful, it was just exhausting," Lelouch shrugged, "still a break does sound nice. So what about you Kallen? What have you been up to while I was gone?"

"Still going to Hueco Mundo and playing with Yoko and Lucy," Kallen said, "we've started putting our own little songs on SoundCloud if you're interested in hearing them sometime."

"That's cool, I'll check them out," Lelouch nodded, "I gotta say though Kallen, your singing is just great. I mean I've never heard anything like it in my life."

"That's really sweet," Kallen blushed. She had gotten so many compliments before about her singing, but from Lelouch, it felt genuine.

"You really should try and get a deal," Lelouch suggested, "we're in contact with Gin Ichimaru from Espada, we could probably convince him to let you on as a..."

"No," Kallen quickly said.

"Wha..why not?" Lelouch seemed very confused at Kallen's refusal.

"I don't think I'm that good Lelouch," Kallen quietly said, "I guess I'm good where I am, but I'm a singer from an indie community. Neither of us get the chances like you guys get. We're stuck playing in the streets just trying to pass the time. I like music, but I don't think I'd make it."

"That's bullcrap," Lelouch raised his voice, "being from an indie community doesn't have anything to do with talent. I've seen indie guys who were child prodigies, I've had little to no musical instruction at all."

"Really," Kallen asked in disbelief, "but you're an amazing keyboardist and singer. How can that be?"

"I taught myself keyboards all the way, the only little things I had were a VHS tutorial tape. And singing, I just did it. I was crappy when I started but I kept doing it and I got good. I'm still not the greatest vocalist in comparison to Issei or Ichigo who've been trained in musical theater and choir, but I can still do it."

"I don't know Lelouch," Kallen was getting more shy, "I'm just not all that confident. I've done shows around the city, but I don't know if I could handle a big performance."

"I know being confident takes a lot, but don't put yourself down like that," Lelouch said, "I really think you're talented Kallen, I really do."

Kallen just sat there for a couple minutes, not sure of what to do. She really didn't know what to say to that. Someone gave her the biggest compliment ever and talked down all the crap she had heard from the other musicians in Hueco Mundo. It was just unbelievable. After a couple moments, she smiled.

"Thank you Lelouch," Kallen simply said.

"You're welcome," Lelouch said as he looked at her cerulean blue eyes.

He didn't say anything, nor did she. They began to move closer together. Lelouch's thoughts kept going on and on.

"Kiss her, kiss her, kiss her, kiss her you idiot, this is your big chance," his inner thoughts kept saying to him.

"Will you shut up," he yelled back.

All of a sudden, the clock in the room went off, sending the two out of their daze. It was already 7:30.

"Oh no," Lelouch suddenly remembered as he got up, "my mom told me to be back by quarter to eight. If I'm late she'll be pissed off."

"Wait Lelouch," Kallen tried to get him to stay.

"Huh?"

"I think we should get together again sometime," Kallen said sounding shy again, she was really trying to hide the blush on her face. Lelouch smiled yet again.

"That sounds great," Lelouch enthusiastically said, "here give me your number and I'll text you."

She did just that. Kallen then got Lelouch to the door and led him out.

"Thanks for having me over," Lelouch called back as he walked down the steps, "bye."

"Bye-bye," Kallen waved to him as he took off into the cold night.

Kallen really thought a lot of Lelouch. He was just so friendly and kind, not to mention handsome. His compliments were really sweet and she never expected someone to be that supporting of her singing. She liked him a lot.

Kallen walked back upstairs to her room and turned on an instrumental recording that Yoko and her were working on. It had a nylon string acoustic guitar played by Yoko and a slight percussion done by Lucy. Kallen got some ideas for lyrics and pulled out the notebook where she kept most of her poems and lyric ideas. She began to write the words and sing them to the recording at the same time.

"Even though I met you only recently, I find myself falling in love with you. I don't know how quite to put this decently. But what's the chance that you will love me too."

* * *

Issei was having a good time being back at school. He was glad to be around his friends and teachers once again.

He began to get more involved in the theater department at Kuoh Academy as they were preparing for the spring musical which they were still considering as of now. He didn't mind if he was a lead character or background character, either was fine with him. More likely though, he would do background characters.

He was still keeping up his basic practice, but more on the guitar than piano. He noticed how good he was playing on the tour and wanted to keep it up. He was hoping to study some new styles, hopefully more jazz and classical guitar. He was on his way to Urahara's shop to buy some CD's for practice. He had sunglasses and a hat on to keep himself hidden from all the unwanted attention that he and the other band members had received. It had become a lot more difficult since they got back. It wasn't much of a problem at school, but on the streets, the bus or subway, that's another story.

He walked into the store and sure enough Urahara was there fixing up an old acoustic guitar for a customer.

"Come again sir," Urahara kindly said to the customer as he left. He then caught notice of Issei and gained his usual happy smile, "hey it's the newest rock star on the block."

"Hey Urahara," Issei waved with a grin as he walked up to front counter.

"How you doing buddy," he asked, "feeling alright."

"Yeah I'm alright," Issei said as he got out his wallet, "do you think you can hook me up with some jazz and classical guitar books."

"Ooh trying to change up your style a little bit," Urahara smirked at him.

"Yeah, I wanted to up my game a little bit with some new stuff," Issei said as he was handed the books, "I started listening a lot more to jazz recently."

"Hey are you feeling a little better," Urahara started to sound more concerned.

"I'm okay," Issei nodded, "I'm upset that the tour had to end in that way though. I feel like it was my fault."

"No way," Urahara interjected, "Riser was planning that from the start. You had no idea that he was gonna do that and it wasn't your fault. To tell you the truth though, I kind of feel bad for Riser."

"What," Issei said surprised, "how come?"

"Well, I learned a little bit more about Riser following his arrest," Urahara began to explain, "he was born into a family that pushed their children to succeed. Riser always felt inadequate and was bullied by his family for being a failure."

"Really, that's awful," Issei muttered.

"When he discovered that he wanted to play the guitar, he began to push himself to be the best," Urahara continued, "but because of that, he lost the sense of fun when you play and he kept doing it as a way to gain acceptance from his family. That's why he would snap at me in class, because he wanted to learn seriously and not goof around, and I don't teach that way. I try to make the experience fun for the students, but Riser wanted it to be serious."

"And then he passed that same abuse on to me," Issei realized.

"That's right," Urahara nodded, "he wanted his students to take it seriously. However, that same philosophy made him become the very people that his family were. It's really sad."

"Where is he now," Issei asked. Urahara looked up with concern at Issei's question.

"At the local station, he's gonna be there until someone posts bail. You're not going to go see him aren't you?"

"I have to," Issei said firmly, "there's somethings I need to tell him."

Urahara looked away for a moment to take in what he saying. There's no way he was going to let a friend of his throw himself into a death trap. But seeing how Issei was, he knew there was no way of convincing him otherwise. Issei was definitely a stubborn little bastard.

"Then I'm going with you," Urahara suddenly said, "there's no way I'm gonna let you get hurt again."

Issei, not knowing what else to do, just nodded at him. Maybe it was for the best that Urahara come with him. After all, if Riser went nuts again, he'd need someone to have his back.

* * *

They arrived at the police station in fifteen minutes. Considering how small the town was, everybody knew their way around easily. They went up to the officer at the desk who welcomed them.

"Can I help you gentleman?"

"We're here to visit," Urahara did most of the talking, "a Mr. Riser Phoenix?"

"Right," the officer nodded, "Officer Fujita, take them down to the visiting room."

"Yes sir."

Urahara and Issei were led by the prison guard downstairs to where the visiting windows were. Issei began to feel completely overwhelmed by fear now. He was going to be face to face with the man who attacked him. At the same time, he needed to do this. There were a lot of things he needed to say, and they had to be said right now.

"I'll be right beside you," Urahara reassured him, "you don't have to worry."

Issei just nodded and went to the window. He sat there for a couple minutes and waited until Riser was led to the window. He was dressed in the typical prison uniform. He looked bruised from Urahara attacking him. When he caught sight of Issei, he didn't seem enraged at the sight of him. Rather he seemed very...annoyed. He just seemed to look very irritated at the sight of him. He sat down on the other side of the window

Issei took the phone and put it to his ear. He was ready to speak at long last.

"What do you want," Riser grunted. Issei struggled to find the words out of nervousness but he finally managed to.

"I'm here to settle some things with you, and then I'll never see you again," Issei said firmly.

"Settle what," Riser scoffed, "you got the chance to tour the world and you have a giant fanbase now. I may have messed you up but you still win either way. What more could you possibly want?"

"I'm going to make a ton of things clear," Issei spoke, "did you plan to beat me up from the start?"

"Yeah I did. So what?"

"You know, that's pretty pathetic I have to say," Issei said with a smug tone and a smirk, "you could've just done it back at the nightclub or you could've jumped me on the street. Why didn't you?"

"So all the fans could see it," Riser said with a threatening tone, clearly trying to intimidate Issei, "I wanted to put you in your place in front of all those idiots that came to see you."

"You're the one that's an idiot," Issei said with a much more serious look. No matter what Riser tried to say, he was not going to be broken, "But it's also very sad."

"Why?"

"I know all about you now. About what your family put you through," Issei finally said it. Those words caused Riser to freeze and shake nervously in front of him.

"How did you know about..."

"I have my ways," Issei interrupted, "I know what they did. They degraded you and pushed to succeed in something and you pushed yourself to do it. But in doing so, you ended up becoming the same kind of person that they were. And not to mention, you tried to spread that negativity to other people through being a teacher. Well sorry to tell you, it never worked for me."

"Why did you get to achieve so much," Riser asked him as he rubbed his head, "why did you get to achieve so much, but be as young as you are. Why do you get all of that and I'm stuck in a music shop teaching a bunch of snot nosed little brats how to play."

"Because...I'm a nice person," Issei said firmly. "I don't degrade people and I don't try to make them feel lowly of themselves. That ends up hurting a musician more than it does good. I'm not going to let what you say to me try to hurt me anymore. But you want to know a little secret?"

"What?"

"I admired you Riser," Issei spoke firmly.

That little phrase caught Riser completely off guard. He looked up to face Issei straight in the eyes with a look of complete and utter shock on his face. He struggled to make words.

"You...you..." he tried to say.

"That's right Riser, I admired you," Issei nodded, "when I first started lessons I thought you would be my hero. All the things you could do I wanted to do, and I wanted to be who you were. Even after I left lessons, I still held a great admiration for you. You're definitely talented and you inspired me. But now, seeing how pathetic you really are...just proves to me that I shouldn't have felt that way about you. You're just an abusive, desperate has-been who eats off the talent of other people. You hurt me, you hurt other people, and you hurt my friends. Now, I'm asking that you never come near me again and never try to hurt anyone I care about either. I'm finished with you, and that's that."

Issei stood up from his seat and just before he left he said one more thing.

"Goodbye Riser."

Issei put the phone back, got his things, and left the station with Urahara. Riser just sat there still holding the phone, having no words to describe how he was feeling right now.

All of those things that Issei said to Riser were completely true. He admired Riser for a long time, even after he had quit taking lessons. Still, what he did to Issei was unforgivable and there was no way Issei was ever going to let it go. Still, if things weren't anymore surprising, he actually felt sympathetic for Riser. Knowing what had happened to him and what his family had put him through, he knew that Riser didn't always act the way he had been to him.

This also caused him to think about everything that had occurred recently. All this fame, the tour, the new popularity he had. Was this really all worth it? Did it really have to be this way. Did it?

 **Again, sorry for the late update guys. I've been in college for a long time and assignments, homework, and other commitments have caused me to not get a lot of writing done. Still, I'm having a good time and I've made so many great friends here. I haven't stopped writing and in the meantime I've created an alternate version of this story with different anime characters you can find here on my deviantart account**

 _ **art/It-s-A-Long-Way-to-the-Top-ALT-Chapter-1-652813627** **.**_

 **I'm also writing a long anime satire parody crossover story that I've written almost 140 pages for now, but my perfectionist mind has kept me from posting it lol. Still I'll probably post it soon enough, but if you guys would like to know a bit more about it please message me and you can give me some good advice on it.**

 **All rights to the song above belong to Stephin Merritt and the 6ths.**


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